A dozen of us Team Nordic Ski Racers's showed up at the huge Kensington park near Detroit this Sat.
Most of us did a 2-hour rollerski hammerfest. Some old-fart, tough-dog bike racers are part of the group and it was all their fault what happened.
Mike Muha, sensibly, stayed out of the fray. Insensibly, I led it for the first 15 minutes in a rearguard attempt to control the pace to my liking: fast but not too fast. But the wild-dogs couldn't be held back and Jeff Ray and Rob Fairman on 150 lead-sleds blasted off with lovely V2 action while I exploded.
Thankfully Tim Feldkamp was there on his fast inlines (plus poles) to torment them. He knew they only wanted to destroy us, so he kept easing out ahead of them, causing them pain, which they don't mind, but which they deserved.
There were actually a wide range of abilities and goals present and quite a few adhered to normal limits. We ran into a couple other rollerskiers as well.
This park has a huge network of lovely paved trails, dirt trails and lakes.
I was destroyed and so left before the taping. The rest of the gang did videotaping after the fest, I guess.
Next Sunday at 10a.m. we'll do another Duathlon of 5km trail run plus 5km rollerski. Great ski training combo! The bike racers whined and said their ankles and ability would prevent their attendance. We baited heavily. Heck, we should even toss in a canoeing leg across the lovely sheltered leg---we have some AuSable marathon dudes in our gang, after all. Make it a perfect ski-training triathlon.
My news is that my HRM registered in the 180s during that first 15 minutes. I recall coming to my senses and giving up the lead at that point, then the real kooks took off. Then at the one hour mark, after a regrouping, there was another build-up where I show three minutes of 194. But a couple minutes before that bout, nestled in some 180's, I note 20 seconds of 206. Yikes. Seems strange. But 3 min's of 194 seems weird, too.
Overall, I'd have to say it was the hardest workout of the fall so far.
I did an hour of trailrunning yesterday that I could hardly finish. Plus I've been raking A LOT. I will go easy a few days now.
It sure is good motivation to have a gang to go out with for hard outings every now and then.
- Jeff Potter