tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85657909895277892182010-09-07T14:11:39.344-05:00Cross country ski training and racing diary for Mike Muha, a Michigan masters skier.Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-28010856978600085482008-06-01T11:02:00.001-05:002008-06-01T11:04:44.454-05:00

Alas, Chris Weingartz won our cross country ski racing competition last season: his overall cumulative race time was 1:31 faster than me. That's not to say that I didn't hold my own: I beat him in five of the seven races in which we both competed. But when he beat me, he beat my by a wide margin.Congratulations Chris! (But wait until next season...)RaceMikeChrisDiffHoliday Classic 10km32:3833:16-

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-67867246296058114042008-05-20T06:15:00.003-05:002008-05-20T06:21:17.953-05:00

It's almost June, and I haven't even reviewed the racing season! Time to get this over with so I can start covering my spring and summer training... I did not expect much this season: I knew I had trained poorly this fall, and it was no one's fault but my own. For some reason, I had a hard time keeping motivated. Happily, I did better than expected and even put together some good races. As always

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-90051617449052436922008-01-17T17:34:00.000-05:002008-01-17T17:38:00.044-05:00

The real competition this year is not for the overall Michigan Cup lead, but the 2nd annual "I beat you!" competition between Chris Weingartz and me. Chris started this last year when he began comparing cumulative races times over the season. I had a lead on him through January until he crushed me in the Noque. I was not able to overcome the deficit through the rest of the season. Here's the

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-43290772021876879972008-01-14T23:43:00.000-05:002008-01-14T23:46:20.716-05:00

It shows. The lack of fitness, that is. I've felt slow and awkward climbing hills, but that seems the routine for the first three races of the season. I hate getting passed on uphills. My only saving grace has been that I descend better than most and can make up quite a bit of ground. But not enough. I ran my race results through the race performance calculator to get to THE TRUTH: Race

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-43164177679654383742008-01-07T20:22:00.000-05:002008-01-07T20:27:16.151-05:00

Here's what ALMOST happened at Sunday's klister-fest at the Boyne Highlands 10km Classic race: Thanks to Nick Baic for this video. The skier is supposed to be Juha Mieto, one of Finland's greatest skiers!

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-28478363936197580662008-01-02T21:10:00.000-05:002008-01-02T21:14:17.185-05:00

Lucky I arrived at the Holiday Classic two hours before race time. Race Director Nick Baic had a thermometer in the snow that read 31 degrees; the air temperature was similar. A moist snow was falling. I knew kick waxing was going to be problematic for this 9km race and the first Michigan Cup race of the season. Attempt #1: Silver and Yellow My first waxing attempt was Toko Base Green (ironed in

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-5372078314986725392007-12-09T15:51:00.001-05:002007-12-09T16:22:52.869-05:00

Drove up to Hanson Hills with TeamNordicSkiRacers Steve Kuhl and Aaron Tarnow for our first classic ski on the season. Although we've been able to skate on minimal snow, ice and frost on local golf courses, there hasn't been enough snow to stride. The tracks at Hanson Hills were worth the trip. Conditions were mid-winter! In mid-December! Trail conditions were relatively firm on top, but a

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-85076505477470640332007-11-18T16:41:00.001-05:002007-11-18T19:22:01.566-05:00

I injured my right shin during a 3 hours rollerski a couple weeks ago. Within a few days, I was limping around. It hurt to walk and drive; running and rollerskiing were out of the question.I finally went to the doctor, who thought it might be a stress fracture. The following day it was off to get a CAT Scan of my tibia. Fortunately, the test was negative (no stress fracture- just a decrease in my

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-58784381375108680002007-10-30T19:21:00.001-05:002007-10-30T19:48:10.527-05:00

Got my first issue of The Master Skier in the mail this weekend. You get yours? No? You belong to American Cross Country Skiers? No? Maybe you'd better sign up so you don't have to wait to pick one up at a ski shop or borrow it from a friend... Me? You're in luck: If you're around rollerskiing this coming Saturday, I have about a dozen extra copies that I can give out. Can't wait? Too

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-75665114588786184872007-10-09T06:48:00.000-05:002007-10-09T19:16:26.975-05:00

Once again, I'm amazed at how much I got out of a weekend with Sten Fjeldheim and 30 other skiers. This is my fourth 2-day clinic with Sten over the past three years, and each time I leave a better skier.Perhaps what makes Sten so good is that he's not just a coach, he's a teacher - and a darn good one. He knows how to break technique into easily digestible chunks. And what an eye - he can spot

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-67713091198669873462007-09-16T19:13:00.000-05:002007-09-16T19:22:02.157-05:00

I thought I'd report on the second triathlon - The Island Lake State Rec Area Sprint Triathlon - that I did along with NordicSkiRacers Ryan Robinson, Greg Worrel and Yvon Dufour, and a friend of Ryan's Michael Kotajarvi. Much nicer weather - sunny and warm.Me on the far left in the red Hammer Nutrition suit, Ryan on the far right with the shiny head... (photo by Erica Kotajarvi)Unfortunately,

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-30983169050446944882007-09-09T18:40:00.000-05:002007-09-09T19:07:28.858-05:00

In less than 10 weeks, I'll be on snow out at the Yellowstone Ski Festival in West Yellowstone. I've been looking forward to getting back to West Yellowstone every since the first time I went three years ago. Every college cross country ski team in the country is there, along with US Ski Team members, masters athletes, racers, and wannabes. It's the scene. There's so much energy that you can't

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-90319540299519980562007-08-24T07:13:00.000-05:002007-08-24T07:30:49.619-05:00

Finally received the detailed results from the Island Lake of Novi Sprint Triathlon. All the NordicSkiRacers in the Triathlon did great in our age categories, but I always like to compare myself to the winning time as well. The swim was half a mile, the bike was 12 miles, and the run was around a 5K. There were 253 competitors. Of those, 5 dropped out after the first or second leg.Race

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-16022952966810192862007-08-13T19:57:00.000-05:002007-08-14T06:12:37.592-05:00

We've continued on with our little friendly competition on the Vasa Ergometer, experimenting with different exercises. Mounting the Ergometer on the wall has greatly expanded the possibilities. Not only can you work the upper body and abs with the Ergometer, but you can add in your legs!Hugh doing V2 on the Vasa ErgometerWe did a "100 meter" sprint doing V2 - arms and legs. Crunch the abs, drive

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-37094811461670705442007-08-10T07:56:00.000-05:002007-08-10T07:58:18.160-05:00

Through most of this spring and summer, I've been running sporadically at best - maybe a run every couple of weeks. And every time I ran, I'd be sore for days after.With my decision to do a couple triathlons, I increased my running frequency and - guess what! - no more pain.I should have known better.If you're coming off one sport and getting ready to get on your rollerskis, or start weight

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-54676581041441452442007-07-24T06:50:00.000-05:002007-07-24T07:07:03.151-05:00

Smart call! After rollerski intervals on Saturday, I drove to the gym to lift weights. I had both a quality rollerski session (except when the glue to my pole grip decided to fail during intervals and I had to roll back to pick up my pole shaft off the pavement...) and a quality weight session. Sunday was a different matter. I went road bike riding with Ryan Robinson. I felt pretty good and

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-36051407320125673892007-07-20T07:42:00.000-05:002007-07-20T07:45:29.137-05:00

I think weight lifting has been affecting my quality training sessions. Example: Monday I did a short weight session in the gym. My upper body was still a little sore on Tuesday when I started classic intervals on my rollerskis. I lasted two intervals and abandoned because my second interval over the same distance was much slower than the first. Maybe I was not totally recovered from five and a

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-55716667046769002472007-07-08T19:41:00.001-05:002007-07-08T19:49:33.504-05:00

Greg and I met to set personal bests on the Vasa Ergometer after I mounted it on the wall. Here's the results:Personal Bests on Wall- Mounted Vasa Ergometer as of July 1, 2007 (Best score in bold). Level MikeGregFixed Distance Time100m Doublepole31:161:06100m Single Pole 31:241:20Fixed Time DistanceDoublepole - 3 minutes1231m235mDoublepole - 4 minutes3319m-Single Pole - 4 minutes1260m-So what's

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-56753152151283534472007-05-13T23:03:00.000-05:002007-07-08T19:49:07.739-05:00

Joanne Gerstner of the Detroit News wrote a series of articles in Saturday's paper about the difficult of being an elite athlete while pregnant or recovering from pregnancy. The article explains "there is scant research on elite female athletes, their pregnancies and post-partum recovery." Many female athletes have problems trying to find the balance between recovery and training. Says Dr. Amy

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-847846206351620912007-06-24T13:53:00.001-05:002007-06-24T13:59:21.664-05:00

Some good improvements on the Vasa Ergometer this past week: I improved my times on 4 out of the 5 tests! Ryan Robinson joined us tonight and posted from pretty good times, especially considering he'd already gone running, rode 10 miles over on his bike, and was feeling under the weather!Greg Worrel, however, has the honor of being the best on three of the five tests; Hugh Pritchard and I each

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-21930204860006140772007-06-12T20:05:00.000-05:002007-06-13T06:37:25.029-05:00

We had another great session last week with the Vasa Ergometer. Competition was fierce!Since is was almost 90F outside under bright sun, we pulled the Erg from the garage and parked it under a nice shade tree in the front yard. A cooling breeze and lots of water kept the session comfortable. (Adult beverages afterwards helped).Here's Greg Worrel doing the first test, the prone doublepole: Yvon

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-75553405499831305692007-06-10T18:45:00.000-05:002007-06-11T07:24:10.056-05:00

A couple NordicSkiRacer ran the 2007 Dexter Ann Arbor run. Yvon Dufour did the Half Marathon, finishing in 1:38:34. Yvon saved some for the end of the race and powered up the last hill to the finish, passing many racers along the way. Steve Kuhl ran the 10K in 40:17, finishing 22nd overall. The Ann Arbor News caught Steve doing his recovery feed. If you can't read the text, here's what it says:

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-89479900389985949002007-06-04T00:01:00.000-05:002007-06-05T18:49:33.433-05:00

A couple NordicSkiRacers have been out playing with the Vasa Ergometer. We've been trying different competitive scenarios:Who can do a fixed distance fastestWho can do the most distance in a fixed timeWe started out with some 100 meter sprints. We arbitrarily picked "100 meters" not really knowing how long it would take: The Vasa Ergometer is normalized for swimmers, so the distance measure

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-26244545510870218452007-06-01T20:21:00.000-05:002007-06-03T15:32:49.238-05:00

I was pretty lazy this spring - I think I averaged only a couple hours of training per week during April! To get myself more motivated, I decided I'd do the US Ski Team fitness test (also called the "Medals Test") in May to set a baseline for the year. I also decided to add a kilometer-long uphill doublepole time trial after reading Aerobic Conditioning Testing for the Cross Country Skier. The

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8565790989527789218.post-19779609451318463332007-05-13T09:40:00.000-05:002007-05-13T09:49:10.164-05:00

I'd been thinking of converting my training diary into a blog for the last few months, every since NordicSkiRacer.com teammate Greg Worrel said, "You should have a blog, where people can leave comments and you can point out interesting things you're reading or see on the web." The more I thought about it, the more it made sense, and not just for the reasons Greg mentions. I noticed that I did

Mike Muhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16135210951904972502noreply@blogger.com1