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My Sunday Workout
My Sunday Workout
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\r\nBy Torin Koos
\r\n
\r\nEarly morning hotel wake-up calls, there’s nothing to like about them. Yet that’s how I awoke from a fitful, polyester-sheet and right-next-to-the-freeway-onramp night last Sunday. With a splash of cool water to the face I’m out the door and on the road up to Mount Baker to start the 31st Annual Ski to Sea Relay for my team, Industrial Moving & Supply, an eight person collage of Washington state's finest skiers, runners, bikers and paddlers.
\r\n
\r\nAn hour and a half later my skis touch snow for the first time since the Europa Cup finals in Tarvisio, Italy in mid-March. Its real skiing with a five foot base but it’s one of those classic spring ski days, forty-eight degrees and raining. Warming up before canon blast that starts the race I begin working out my pre-race plan. Having gone straight from ski racing into an abbreviated track running season, I’m seven days removed from three weeks of milkshakes and training optional days. My fitness is in question, particularly for distance racing. I’m not confiding in a lack of confidence, just dealing with reality - that it is May, 2004 and I’m in the worst shape I’ve been in since, since… May, 2003.
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\r\nJust like I thought Kris Freeman takes off like a rocket. Two hundred meters in he’s got ten meters on Colin Mahood, twenty on the rest of the field. I settle in, sandwiched between Devon Kershaw and Trond Flagstad. Kershaw begins the tough task of trying to ski down Kris. Flagstad and I yo-yo off the Canadian’s pace. Four miles and nineteen minutes later Kris, then George, then Flagstad and I hand off to our respective alpine teammates. But this is no ordinary downhill cruise. The racers hike up Mount Baker in alpine boots, carrying skis and poles, before cruising down the cat-track. I hand off to Chris Tolonen, former Boise State 5km’er turned duathlete. Perhaps not surprisingly Justin Wadsworth clocks the quickest alpine time.
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\r\nTravis Armstrong, my team’s runner puts up the day’s fastest time, running the eight mile downhill leg in 36 minutes. More importantly though, three teams consolidate together up front, and we’re in the hunt for the win. In the draft-legal 36 mile road bike the three lead teams increase their advantage over the pursuers. An eighteen mile canoe down the Nooksack River follows and where Washington’s own Greg Barton, six time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, paddles away with a three minute cushion over the next two boats. By this time, the sun had worked its way through the rain clouds and I’m running around from exchange to exchange, talking to my biker one minute, our canoeist, an old friend the next. There’s a buzz in the air, an electricity. It’s a good vibe to be around.
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\r\nA nine mile cyclocross style mountain bike leg is then followed by a five mile kayak out in the harbors of the Pacific Ocean. The three teams first in the water were headlined by Peter Newton, Mike Herbert and Chris Barlow. The three shared a room as teammates at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. In spite of the unpredictable ocean water the top kayakers paddle these insanely narrow, twenty inches at most at the center, nineteen feet carbon fiber and fiberglass missiles that slice through chop and ride the waves with no wasted resistance. At the beach finish in downtown Bellingham, our team came in third. We might not have won but sitting there in the park, sipping good espresso and soaking in the sun I couldn’t think of any other way I’d want to spend my Sunday.
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\r\n
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T. Koos, a Washington native, was a standout runner and skier for the University of Utah.
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\r\n
\r\nSki To Sea
\r\n
\r\nBy Kris Freeman
\r\n
\r\nAbout two months ago I was invited by Justin Wadsworth
\r\nand team Baron Heating to ski the opening leg of a
\r\nseven event relay race in Bellingham Washington. The
\r\nfirst leg of the race is a 7k cross country ski race.
\r\nIt is followed by alpine skiing, running, biking,
\r\ncanoeing, mountain biking, and a sea kayak. The event
\r\nis rightly called the Ski to Sea.
\r\n
\r\nI accepted the invitation to race and flew to
\r\nWashington a day before the competition so that I
\r\ncould inspect the course. I drove up to Mt Hood with
\r\nTorin Koos and we skied the race loop for 2 hours. I
\r\nwasn't planning to ski that long but I enjoyed being
\r\nback on snow so much that I skied a bit extra.
\r\n
\r\nThe next morning I had to wake up at 5:00 AM for the
\r\n8:30 Am start of the race. I was still jet-lagged so
\r\nthis wasn't that hard as 5:00 AM felt like 8:00 AM. I
\r\nwoke up, had some cereal and a double espresso with
\r\nJustin Wadsworth, and then headed to the hill. Justin
\r\nwas the alpine skier for my team. The alpine race
\r\nconsists of a 20 minute hike carrying skis and boots
\r\nto the top of a peak and tucking down it.
\r\n
\r\nWhen I arrived to start of the race I was greeted by a
\r\nsteady Washington drizzle falling from the sky. It
\r\nwas warm out and it was obvious that the snow had not
\r\nfrozen overnight. I knew I was in for some sloppy
\r\nconditions on the trails. I warmed up in the rain in
\r\ngood spirits. I didn't care that it was raining it
\r\nfelt so good to be skiing.
\r\n
\r\nAt 8:25 AM I lined up with the other 400 skiers in the
\r\nrace and awaited the starting gun. As I waited I
\r\nlooked around and saw that Devon Kershaw of the
\r\nCanadian National Team, and Trond Flagstad of
\r\nAnchorage Alaska were racing. It was good to see that
\r\nthere were some good skiers at the line with me.
\r\n
\r\nWhen the gun fired I sprinted out of the start trying
\r\nto stay quick and light so as not to sink into the wet
\r\nslushy tracks. My approach worked as I build a ten
\r\nsecond lead up the first 500 meters of hill. At this
\r\npoint the course went downhill for about 2ks. I
\r\nstayed in a low tuck and free skated through rutts and
\r\npuddles to the low point of the trail. By the time I
\r\ngot to the bottom of the hill I was completely soaked
\r\nfrom the rain but I was having a good time so I barley
\r\nnoticed. I had a 20 second lead over Devon at this
\r\npoint and I decided to put the hammer down on the next
\r\n3ks of hard uphill. It was hard work fighting up the
\r\nlong slow hill infront of me but my lead increased
\r\nwith every pole stroke. At the top I had a 45 second
\r\nlead and all I had to do now was manuever through some
\r\nwinding downhills to the exchange zone. The rutts on
\r\nthe descent were a foot deep in some spots but they
\r\ndidn't phase me. I grew up skiing in New Enland. The
\r\nonly kind of skiing you get there is slush or ice. I
\r\nfelt very at home. A few hundred meters before the
\r\nfinish I took my poles off so that I could take my
\r\nteam wristband off and help to put it onto Justin's
\r\nhand. Our handoff was seamless and then I was done.
\r\nI had some lung burn and a 50 second lead over second
\r\nplace.
\r\n
\r\nJustin was able to extend our lead over second place
\r\nby 2 minutes during his race. Team Baron Heating had
\r\nwisely chosen to put an endurance athlete in the
\r\nalpine race that was mostly hiking. Our runner lost a
\r\nminute and a half over his 8 mile course and then our
\r\nbiker lost another 90 seconds. My team entered the
\r\ncanoe in third place. Fortunately for us, our canoers
\r\nwere incredibly strong and build our lead back to two
\r\nminutes. Our Mountain biker build another minute lead
\r\nand then the team's kayaker breezed through the water
\r\nto with the race by 2 minutes overall.
\r\n
\r\nAfter drying out, it was time for a barbecue and a
\r\ncouple of drinks. My hosts were very generous and I
\r\nhad a great meal and a great weekend.
\r\n
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Written By: kfreemanDate Posted: 6/6/2004Number of Views: 358
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