Friday, June 26, 2009

Friday Musings and a double pole time trial

Has anyone ever used rainx on glasses? I feel like it could be a very useful application, unless of course its too toxic to have near your skin like that.

Of course, now that its 80 degrees, sunny and humid, the moisture on my glasses is on the inside, not the outside.

CSU ran its first double pole time trial of the season yesterday night. We had seven juniors and three coaches doing the test, and Jamie took another 10-12 beginners to figure out how to rollerski. I was fairly impressed with my double poling performance - I've had elbow tendonitis that started last summer and never went away in the winter, so I've been taking it super easy on the rollerskiing front this summer trying to lose that injury. But between actually doing my physical therapy exercises and stretches and wearing my nifty little elbow brace, my elbows stood up to the pounding. Luckily, on uphills, it eventually just becomes a strength thing, because you're going too slowly to actually get your hands up, so there is less pounding. Or something.

My times were pretty good, compared to last september. Last September I skied a 12:46 (we add the times of the four reps - they were 3:08, 3:10, 3:13, and 3:15), and yesterday I skied a 13:31 (3:14, 3:26, 3:23, and 3:28). That is 5.7% slower, but, its June, and I've rollerskied less than 10 times so far. So, I'm happy. Previous data points that I have for myself:
August 06 - 16:56
November 06 - 15:01
June 08 - 15:17
September 08 - 12:46
June 09 - 13:31
I guess I like how that trend is going. These have all been on the same pair of Marwes, so at least its consistent.

It was definitely fun mixing it up with the boys - since I haven't been racing much, my competitive spirit is really chomping at the bit. The first one we all started together, I started in the back with Olga, and we quickly passed Rion (second year J2) on the initial steep pitch. Then it leveled out, and I pulled ahead of Olga a bit. We turned the corner and it got steep, and I reeled in Bob Burnham (coach, who had just gotten off a plane from China that day) and Nick (second year J1). Nick has been training this summer, so hopefully he'll see some serious improvements this winter. I could see the Burnham boys ahead of me and Neil and Luke and Frank ahead of them, but I didn't want to burn all my matches on the first hill. By tucking the downhill (gotta love taking that corner at 30+ mph!) I caught up with Luke and Frank, but waited for the full 4 minutes to elapse before starting my next one, behind the boys and ahead of Olga, Bob, Rion, and Nick. This one felt hard, although I was able to stay with Chris when he caught up to me.

The third one I decided to start with the Burhnam boys and Rion and Neil, and although Neil pulled away quickly, I was able to ski with Jimmy up through the top. We ended up dropping Chris and Rion, because Jimmy wasn't about to get girled and I was right there. Back to the bottom and I found myself starting behind Luke, with Jimmy and Chris just behind me. After the first steep pitch I didn't hear Jimmy's poles anymore, and realized I'd snapped the elastic of having a rabbit in front of you. Or just his will to double pole. I was trying to really engage my core, since it is considerably stronger than my arms these days, and then I saw Luke and realized I'd reeled him in with my slightly slower tempo. I tried to convert him to my ways but he was hyperventilating and flailing, and I couldn't get him to slow down to speed up. I dropped him, but couldn't put any time on Neil, who was (I believe) the winner of the day, if you don't count Frank. Good times, but my elbows might be suffering for this one for a couple days...

2 comments:

Luke S said...

Flailing would accurately describe what I was doing on those. The third was the worst, in terms of slowness and flailing, the fourth was moderately better. Time to start doing specific strength.

Jamie said...

No kidding Luke! Seeing Frank go by and then you, flailing is too kind a word. Wish I'd had video going.....

Good job Alex! You were not flailing but looked rock solid.