XC Ski Alliance

10km Skate.

admin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:39:02 +0000

Well, the racing has finally started here in frigid Anchorage. After waiting around for two days they were able to hold the 5/10km skate races today. The intervals were reduced to 15 seconds in order for the races to go by as quickly as possible. This did not keep me, or many others, all that warm. My hands turned into hard blocks after about 3km and then came back around 7km. Other than that I stayed pretty warm while I was racing. I know a lot of others that did not fare that well though.

All in all, the CXC crew did quite well. We had the national champion, Caitlin, and the 3rd place finisher in Matt. We also had three CXC men in the top 15 and four CXC women in the top 20! The skis were fast as usual. We have extra support here with Brandon Ostroot our wax tech, Wayne Fish who is Bryan Fish’s dad, and John Hugus the father of CXC junior Ben.

To be honest, the race went by really fast and I do not have too much to report. Matt started 15 seconds in front of me, Garrott started 15 seconds behind me, and Brian Gregg start 15 seconds behind Garrott. After about 1km Garrott caught up with me and we skied together pretty much the rest of the way. He was leading at about 3km and we were both skiing within ourselves. He pulled away from me at about 5km but I reeled him in pretty close by the finish. I felt that I skied well and I do not really know where I ended up losing time which is a little frustrating. Both Garrott and I saw Matt in the second lap but he really killed it the last few kilometers which was really key for him finishing so well. Big ups to Matt for his race as we are waiting to see if tomorrow will be a 10km or 15km classic!

5K Skate

admin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:31:54 +0000

The temperatures cooperated today and the skate races were able to start. It was still very cold and the distances were shortened from 10K/15K to 5K/10K. I was pretty excited about the distance switch because the 5K skate is my favorite race. The race went pretty well for me. I went out like I normally do and had a great first 3K. After that, my technique fell apart when I got tired. Hopefully, I can fix this problem with some more interval training. In a 5K race, there is no room to go out slower. Hopefully, by the end of the year I will be able to finish as strong as I start.

My CXC teammate Caitlin Compton won the women’s race today, she was 3.5 seconds in front of Kikkan Randall of USST and APU. We are very proud of her and it feels pretty good to know that I train with her all year round. Kristina Owen was the next CXC girl in finishing 17th with a time of 16:02.6, Johanna Winters was 18th (16:03.0), I was 20th (16:04.1), Jessie Diggins was 21st (16:04.2), Heather Zimmerman was 62nd (17:04.5), Libby Ellis was 67th (17:09) and Jen Rolfes was 101 (17:53.9). There were 169 women in the race and times were extremely tight. Around me, there were 5 girls within 1 second of each other (19-23).

Several of my former NMU teammates also had notable races including Caitlin Compton, Lindsey Dehlin of the USST in 8th (15:39.3), Morgan Smyth of the USST in 21st (16:04.2), Marie-Helen Soderman of NMU in 31st (16:18.4), Laura Dewitt of NMU in 49th (16:41.5), and Ingrid Fjeldheim of NMU in 57th (16:57.5). I have a feeling these NMU girls will be out for blood tomorrow.

I will let Bryan report on the Men’s race later, but I can’t help but mention that Matt Liebsch was third today! I also took a few pictures of the boys finish.

Matt Liebsch within the final 150 meters of his 3rd place finish

Garrott Kuzzy #246 skiing to his 8th place finish

Bryan Cook #245 skiing to 14th place overall

Justin Singleton #290 of NMU on the far right

Canceled Again

admin — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 21:42:44 +0000

Today’s races were canceled, again. It is still bitterely cold. I heard a rumor that tomorrow’s 10k/15k skate races have been shortened to 5K/10K for the women and men, respectively. Stay tuned for updates.

Bitterly Cold

admin — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:55:13 +0000

The races today were canceled due to “bitterly cold” weather conditions. They will try again tomorrow, but the forecast is similar.

Temperatures Low, Spirits High.

admin — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:07:47 +0000

Garrott Kuzzy and Maria Stuber in front of the Ocean at Kincaid Park

Right now it is -12 degrees Fahrenheit outside. According to the Weather Channel, the high for the day is supposed to be -8. The first race of the week is scheduled for tomorrow. The predicted high for tomorrow is -7. In order to start a race like U.S. Nationals, the temperature must be at least -4.

Right now, Bryan and I are doing the same thing we have been doing every morning out here in Alaska. We drink coffee and we wait for that brief time period in the day when the temperature is -7. Then we will train. Today we will probably go out around 2:00 PM. Most people here are running around pretending that the races are definitely on. There’s not much else you can do. Bryan and I have opted not to race in the first race (Classic sprint) because we wanted to get a few extra days of training in after our sickness. We are also both focusing on doing well in the distance races.

Here is the race schedule for the 2009 US Cross Country Ski Championships:

Saturday (1/3): Classic Sprint

Monday (1/5): 10K/15K Freestyle

Wednesday (1/7): 5K/10K Classic

Thursday (1/8): Freestyle Team Sprints

Friday (1/9): Fly back to MSP

Happy New Year

admin — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:45:55 +0000

Can you find the moose in this picture?

Alaska is so cold.

Kincaid

admin — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:40:58 +0000

I made it out on the trails today, and it was VERY cold. I skied around most of the courses that we will race on next week. I also got to watch the US biathlon juniors compete for the World Junior Championship Team spots. Did you know that all the biathlon coaches agree to use the same wax in qualification races like this so that every kid has an equal chance of making the team, regardless of their coaching support? I think that is pretty cool.

admin — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:25:38 +0000

Over Christmas, Bryan and I both caught a cold and missed some training. Then we flew to Anchorage, Alaska on Friday (12/26). Within the next 48 hours, everyone on the CXC team (except Jo Jo) was completely taken out by some bug. We are still debating whether the bug is food poisoning or a flu-like virus. I spent 48 hours in my bed with aches and fever like symptoms. Others were reported to have thrown-up quite a bit. Fortunately, the sickness only lasted about 24 hours. Unfortunately, it is awful. Tomorrow, I hope to get out on the ski trails for the first time this week. I will try to get some pictures of beautiful, Kincaid Park.

Merry Christmas.

admin — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:58:01 +0000

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from everyone at the XC Ski Alliance.

Merry Christmas!

Classic Sprint.

admin — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:03:53 +0000

Well, my first sprint of the year went pretty well. It was a classic sprint and it was snowing hard. Almost everyone decided that double poling the course was the fastest and it showed. The top 6 women all used skate skis and every guy used skate skis in the heats as well. Garrott really put the hammer down in qualifying, because he was angry he fell in the skate sprint qualifying last week. He ended up qualifying 1st and ended the day in 5th. Brian Gregg also had a decent qualifying round and ended in 21st. It was a bummer he was in the same heat as Garrott and was not able to advance out of the quarters. The same went with all the rest of us. Caitlin, JoJo, Heather, and Kristina all made the heats but were knocked out in the quarters. I ended my qualifying round in 22nd just behind Gregg. I was happy with that as well as how my heat went. With all the new snow falling it was pretty hard to pass out there and I was in 5th for most of my heat before ending in 4th. All and all, it was a pretty good first sprint race for me. Now we are waiting around to race the final race of this early season campaign. It is a 15km and 10km classic race slated to start at 5pm under the lights. It is still snowing and supposed to drop in temperature all day. Some are worried that it might actually be to cold to race so we will wait and see. Check out all the sweet pictures Maria took of the sprint race on the post below!