In typical fashion, the snowstorm of the century (Dan Sederquist term…long story) ended up being a dud…until the fourth quarter. Right when I finalized my plans for an epic trail run, Leadville delivered a couple inches of snow on Monday morning.
I went up to 7th street early, figuring THAT trail’s car grooming operations were more likely to be up and running. Unfortunately, not only was that NOT the case, but the snow was just too warm and wet and ‘initial’ to ski on. My skis sunk down to the gravel. I did a few kick and glides, just to log an October day on snow for the sixth-straight year, but put the skis away and drove to Buena Vista for a real workout in 55-degree weather.
I can’t say for sure whether the Turquoise Road situation is better or worse as of this writing. That road is a lot colder than 7th street, which makes a big difference in snow quality, volume and retention. But in order to ski on it, you need a few people to plug in “Leadville to Basalt” into their Google Maps. If we could get another dumping on Tuesday or Wednesday, the snow would stay forever on Hagerman Pass/Turquoise Lake, but I think the upcoming week’s forecast — sunny and mid-50s — will melt everything by Friday/Saturday.
This is usually the worst time of year for me…I hate the inconvenience integrated into my training from this type of weather. You never really know what modality is going to be the best or most efficient, and both of those factors matter more and more for me each day.
That being said, it looks like my daughter isn’t as picky as me.
From our Canmore correspondent
Dan Batwinas is on snow in Canmore! The longtime Leadville local and Sederskier.com reader did 5×6 minutes of level 4 roller ski work on the Banff Legacy bike bath last Thursday, then immediately put snow baskets onto his poles.
“Opening day was wonderful,” Batwinas said. “Busy, but not too busy. Lots of energy. Conditions (were) good — a little soft, but I liked it soft so I could control my speed a little.”
Batwinas sent a text to SederSkier.com on Sunday. It sounds like he’s getting himself ready for the climbing in his favorite race, the Yellowstone Rendezvous Race. Not sure if that will fit into your race calendar? Check out our ultimate schedule (which is still being updated!!).
Diggins takes a wipeout
Well, another year of me being a terrible ski reporter has begun. The U.S. Ski Team’s fall camp is over and I was not there in-person to do some old-fashioned on-site reporting.
Too bad, too, because at least one click-baity story could have really generated some serious, well, click bait.
Jessie Diggins posted a video on Instagram of her conducting a double-pole to failure test on the rollerski treadmill. Interestingly, she was not donning a safety belt….you can see where this is going….she ended up flying off the back.
“Can confirm, the treadmill always wins,” she stated. “Also confirming that my face missed the belt by a few inches so we’re all good! This is why we have the crash pad, although a harness will be coming soon.”
While some individuals (from David Roche to Nick Page) complimented Diggins on her trademark toughness and ability to push her body beyond its limits — no matter the consequence — others were a bit more ….concerned? …shall we say.
“Why no safety harness?” asked Jim Galanes, a three-time Olympian and the guest on our upcoming Oct. 28 SederSkier podcast.
“Ummmmm why?” added Ivan Babikov. Yes. Best post ever.
Rodby Innovation Treadmills even slid into the comments, stating, “Using the treadmill without any kind of safety harness is completely out of the question.”
Now, we really could have used a journalist to investigate this manner, but thanks to social media, we can at least pull together a few clues. Diggins’ coach, Jason Cork, replied to Galanes by saying a safety harness was “in the works now.”
I’m giving the coaching staff the benefit of the doubt and assuming the safety harness was always ‘in the works’ — not just after its absence nearly cost the country’s best skier a world championship season. But even if the scheduled DP test was a day before FedEX could get to Park City, don’t you just reschedule that workout? I don’t know….I know these skiers are really, really talented, but this kind of seems really, really stupid.
Glad nothing terrible happened, but that was a close call.
In other ski camp news, Diggins and Reid Goble won the skate sprint at the Schutzenski Festival at Soldier Hollow on Saturday. In Friday’s 10-kilometer classic rollerski, Luke Jager and Rosie Brennan took top honors.
The third lap (because our running column is the most important one): Is the new women’s marathon record too good to be true?
I recently listened to Ross Tucker and Mike Finch break down Ruth Chepng’etich’s crazy women’s marathon world record (she broke 2:10 at the Chicago Marathon earlier this month, lopping almost two minutes off the previous record — which at the time was unfathomable as it skipped the 2:12s entirely).
I’m with Tucker on a few key points.
- The super shoes have ruined things. Not only does it lace running — the previously most ‘fair’ endurance sport out there — with an arbitrary arms race, but it makes analyzing records like these extra tricky. Chepng’etich’s previous best time was 2:14. Tucker brought up the point that if she used the Vaporflys instead of the Alphaflys in Chicago, it’s possible that the 4+ minute improvement is attributable just to shoes (because previous research has indicated that they’re something like 2-4% better, apparently…). Knowing this tidbit is important….if she’s been using the same shoes, then the cause for improvement (potentially, doping) is again up for debate.
- Journalists missed the boat on asking Chepng’etich the right questions at the post-race presser. She should have been asked about the above topic (i.e. “Tell me what shoes you’ve worn in races over the last five years?”). She also should have been asked about her specific fueling plan. We’re in the midst of a fueling revolution in cycling, ultra-trail and other sports. Did Ruth (easier to write out) use Bi-Carb before the race? How many carbs per hour? What was her fueling strategy?
A few of my own opinions:
- I think the women’s marathon record will be 2:07:?? within the next three years. My reasoning is that the current women’s half-marathon record holder (1:02:52 by 26-year-old Letesenbet Gidey) could/should be able to run back-to-back 1:04s. To some degree, women’s records are ‘catching up’ as the overall caliber of women’s athletics continues to improve. Also, studies have shown that supershoes help women more than men.
- That being said, Chepng’etich’s time is truly absurd. Here’s a tweet from Steve Magness that puts it into context:
- Is it ‘too good to be true?‘ ….TBD….
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