No Man's Land

Today was week 4 of Nordic Meisters, and I'm filled with nothing but positive things to report. Scary, isn't it?

First of all, the new wax pocket on my skis definitely made a difference. Probably more psychologically than physically, but I'll take what I can get. Additionally, I figured out a problem with my technique yesterday at Pineland and tested it out today. Basically, I was too far forward on my skis, thus not allowing for full compression of the wax pocket. Without full contact with the snow, the wax was slipping. I'm not really surprised I had this flaw, but I'm glad I was able to diagnose it. When you're running up a hill, you will lean into the hill to drive up it. The same isn't exactly true for skiing. Too far forward and the you're not compressing the ski. In other words, skiing is really technical and complicated.

Overall, though, I basically just tried to ski smooth. And think this worked out pretty well. Yes, I skied hard, but not ballistic. By staying relaxed, it helps me ski better and actually go faster. It's somewhat counterintuitive. But, it worked, as I skied better as compared to all the old guys. I was please was my finish. The real problem, though, is that everyone ahead of me is waaaaayyyy ahead of me. I need to make up some serious ground to catch them, and most of that ground is in ski technique. Unfortunately, my technique probably isn't going to improve 2 minutes over the next four weeks. So there I am stuck in the middle. I'm OK with that because it's only 14 weeks until our Spring Trail Running Series starts. That's when I can turn the tables. Except for the fact that none of the fast old guys show up. They're out rollerskiing or some other such nonsense.