30k

I went into yesterdays race pretty relaxed. No expectations but definitely some hopes and it was a little less than I hoped. It has been cold here and was a little warmer yesterday but still -15 C in the morning so I dressed how I usally do for cold but not too cold. Turns out the air temp to freezing shortly before the start and I was way overdressed. As I've mentioned before the hills here are big and the snow is abbrasive. We ended up waxing pretty warm whick means it isn't as durable also I made the mistake of not going on a stiffer ski which would keep the kick wax off the snow so it would last longer.

My plan was to ski more relaxed out of the start than I usually do in the mass starts and ski my way up. I managed but in the chaos that the first laps are I ended up missing the first 3 feeds. Still I was skiing around guys with bibs in the 20's and 30's by the second lap (I was #48). They my kick started to go. I could still kick up everything but not as effective and I should and I started to slip back from the pack.

Coming out of the exchange I was skiing with Lars Flora, Mikey Sinnot, and a Canadian or two and once the skate skis got on I started to feel good. Mikey got out quicker that the rest I and caught up to him and was lokking to keep going but then the warm clothes and the missed feeds caught up and I started to cramp up. Once that happens the only thing to do is ski within yourself and take all the feeds you can and hope you can come back around. After a while the cramping went away but there wasn't any pop left so I called it a day knowing that my skating is feeling much better and not wanting to put myself under for the 15k on Friday.

After the race coach Frode made my day saying I was looking like the old James out there. It's coming...