Vasaloppet 45

Posted by Hótigris on Feb 26, 2020 in 2020, cross country skiing, Dalarna, diabetes, Lager 157 Ski Team, Sockertoppen IF, Sweden, training, Vasaloppet |One Comment

Much have been said about Vasaloppet this Winter and the lack of snow and many scaremongers in the media have been warning against icy tracks and risks of accidents. I just want to say that Tuesday was a fantastic day in the Vasaloppet arena. We started at Evertsberg in -10°C, sunshine and high spirits. Sure the tracks were fast but they were also deep with hard defined edges and a perfect surface for half braking on the descents if needed. None less than world cup standard. Take a look at this video from Monday in the tracks at Oxberg. The tracks looked like this all the way from Evertsberg down to Hemus.

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@vasaloppet levererar i dag IGEN, mycket Avis på dom dom åker i dag. Kommer vara e helt ljuvlig dag att åka sidor och det kommer gå snabbt! Och att få dela en morgon som denna med denna sköna böna ❤️

A post shared by Maria Larsson (@marialarssontriathlon) on Feb 24, 2020 at 12:42am PST

I had a plan of taking it easy in the beginning of the race and then increasing the workload along the line. Partly since it had been a year since my last time in the Vasaloppet tracks and partly since I didn’t want to run any risks although seen in hindsight I could actually have just stood in the track with both skis and gone just as fast as the people who came from behind on the descents down towards Vasslan.. That would have made up the 6 minutes I lacked to seed up to gate 5. Yes, the tracks were that good!

On the other hand when everyone else got tired after Oxberg and Hökberg it was my time to shine. On the way from Hökberg I went very fast and took in a lot of people. I actually started picking up on the climbs up Lundbäcksbackarna (the climbs before Oxberg). Since I was on my Madshus Redline DP, I was double poling all the way and contrary to last season I was actually going faster than most others on the climbs. What I lost on the descents in the beginning of the race I pulled back in on the climbs.

I skied with 18 km/h in average speed over the last 20 km from Hökberg. That is by far the best I have ever done in the Vasaloppet tracks. The glide on the skis was phenomenal. Marcus Laggar saw to it that I got the same glide as Lager 157 used for Tjejvasan when Britta Johansson Norgren won.

My time wasn’t good enough to seed me to gate 5 since I went too slow on the descents at the first five to ten kilometres but I came in at 2:36:08. I am satisfied. This is the best race effort I have done so far and it confirms my shape building towards this years Vasaloppet. My place as far as I can figure out is nr. 348 out of about 2800 that finished the race. Also my best result so far.

The Strava segments confirms the trend.

 

Contrary to the other years I didn’t drink other than water at the stations during the race. I had with me a Coxa Carry belt with water and the sesame kex that I have grown so fond of. I can drink on the descents and the kex fits perfectly in the small pockets at the front of the belt. I eat one about every 7-8 km. This means that my blood sugar doesn’t get too high. Perfect balance. I also did not over-eat before the race. I started out with müsli and kvarg in the morning and had a banana with me for the race start. That was it. The belt fits so good that I actually didn’t feel it during the race.

I am also very pleased with my heart rate curve for this race. I have a history of tiring out in the second half of the marathons I have been skiing so far but yesterday I turned it around. My average heart rate for the first half of the race was significantly lower than for the second half. This is good news. I got more stamina and I think I have partially cracked the code to how I can get much better through the whole race.

At the finish line I even had energy reserves to sprint in at very close to max heart rate (187 bpm/ max is 194). Actually lay down as I crossed the finish line.. Some people there saw that I had the Sockertoppen IF suit on and thought my blood sugar was low but I was just pressing myself at the last kilometres so I could ease their minds as I was quite okay.

 

My friends René and Sofia also participated. They went out on fire from the start. I didn’t catch up to Sofia before Oxberg when she said René was seven minutes ahead! So I decided that was a good time to start powdering up the barrels and shoot off. Even though I upped the ante and passed many many people there was no sign of René until the climbs up to Eldris when I finally caught up with him. We later looked and compared the time stamps from the watches. René was going more than 2 km/h faster than me in average speed on the descents but as the race went on he slowed down when I started picking up speed. From Hökberg to Mora I was going about 4 km/h faster in average speed. Good try at an early breakaway, René, but no cigar! 😉

René and Sofia can brag about something else though since they seeded to gate 7 from gate 9 previously. Big congrats and big warm thoughts to Sofias father Göran who drove us to the start at Evertsberg in the morning as well as cheering us on out in the tracks. After the race we gathered at Sofias parents in Mora to eat and relax. Great feelings. I cut half an hour from my finish time in 2019 and René and Sofia about 45 and 50 minutes from theirs.

Now we are preparing for Vasaloppet on Sunday. It looks like snow right now so the tracks may be completely different by then.

You can buy your cross country skis here: https://www.skistart.com/eng/catalogsearch.

Or here: Orsa Grönklitt Längdcentrum

Please visit Orsa Grönklitt if you want the ultimate cross country skiing experience in Sweden at winter time: https://www.orsagronklitt.se/.

As a Skidspårs Ambassador I urge you to report cross country ski tracks that you have been skiing in Sweden. You can do this at skidspar.se.

When buying skis I learned one thing from experience. Go for the best and talk to the best. So when I consider new skis I talk to two guys. Marcus Laggar of Lager 157 Ski Team, Längdcentrum at Orsa Grönklitt and Conny at Skistart in Älvdalen. If you buy last years top of the line skis rather than this seasons 3rd in line, you get a lot more value for your money.  If you talk to guys like Marcus, who pick out skis for the competition skiers, you may even get your hands on a pair that comes from a hand picked batch that normally only gets in the hands of the elite and national teams.

If you visit Orsa Grönklitt you can ask at Längdcentrum for a test ride directly out the door from the shop, and you should. In the end it is how the ski feels to you that is the most important factor when making that final choice.