Two weeks and counting

Two weeks today I travel out for my only training on snow - the last few days before it starts. By about the second day I will need to be doing about 50km - probably spread over several sessions to allow my muscles to adjust. Since I know that I can do the distances, or at least I know that from last time, I have arranged some instruction to improve my technique. My target would be to get a speed improvement of 10% and be able to sustain 10km/hr excluding the rest stops.

As far as fitness goes, I am at about the same point as I was 2 years ago, and today the weight god smiled on me and there was a sudden drop to exactly the same weight as 2 years ago. I have been at a higher level of fitness for longer this time

But here is the schedule of the RR

Day 1 - meet and briefing in Ovianki
Day 2 - 63 km from the start to Kuusamo
Day 3 - 72 km to Taivalkoski
Day 4 - 55 km to Syotekeskus
Day 5 - 84 km to Ranua
Day 6 - 44 km to Ruona school
Day 7 - 56 km to Honkamaa/Kivalo in Keminmaa
Day 8 - 76km to Tornio
Day 9 - bus back to airports

But one of the most difficult parts is not the skiing, but the presentations at the end. Each nationailty group is expected to provide some entertainment. That is easy if you are part of a group of 20 Germans or Finns, but somewhat harder if you are the lone Brit. Last time I only discovered about this aspect of it at the start. This year I have some time to think before I get there.

So how do you think of something different, will entertain (and hopefully amuse) people, most of whom will not necessarily understand what you are saying?

It isn't actually quite so bad - the countries with sole representatives are allowed to join together for this. But that brings new challenges.

Today I also (from my recent birthday) got to try out a new "dadget" (the word my daughter coined from a contraction of "Dad's gadgets") - the GPS unit to go with my Polar heart monitor watch. (The Polar factory is in Oulu close to the airport on the way back). This is much easier than the handheld GPS for monitoring the speed and looking at the tracks when I get back, but I will probably still take the handheld GPS and the GPS on my smartphone for navigational purposes.

Talking of smartphones, mine prompted me to upgrade it whilst I was away this week, but I wisely waited until my return. Just as well, because I needed to download the new manual before I could work out how to use it again.

My ski bag is now packed - three pairs of skis - a pair of waxless in case the predictions about warm weather come true, a new pair bought in Helsinki a few weeks ago - these seem to be more carbon fibre and graphite than anything else and the trusty pair that did the trip last time and a couple of other trips since - I have done nearly 1,000 km on them now, so I am not relying on them entirely for this trip.

The 2010 RR looked like this:

The start - close to the Russian border.

Here the RR track is set along a frozen lane

And at other times it is like a white desert.

One of the many rests stops, manned by volunteers.

And if you are Finnish, you don't stand around without a fire.

By the time I reach the rest stops, the fire has melted itself into a good hole!

Occasionally there are hills. The RR special route is often aong the firebreaks in the forests, which is where the power lines also run.

Me at a rest stop. The drink dispenser is full of a warm cordial, a bit like a tart warm Ribena. At -20C to -30C (which it was for the last 3 days) the water in my water bottle, despite being insulated in a sock, freezes within hours. Snacking food is raisins, squares of chocolate, segments of orange, and sliced pickled Dill cucumbers. This last item is to ensure that you replace the salt that you sweat, which helps avoid muscle cramps. Remember, at my speed I am skiing between 8 and 12 hours per day!

Nowhere does nature do "Winter Wonderland" better than Lapland. This is a couple of hours into the last day. One of the other skiers - a professional photographer - tells me that some of the country we are currently skiing through belongs to his father.

"Maali" - the Finish. We had to stop a few kilometres short because there was water on top of the ice on the big river for the last little bit, and it was deemed too dangerous. This picture was taken by Sanna - a college student volunteer who was our group's "gopher" - if you needed anything during the day, you gave her the money and she got it for you. What you can't see out of shot is that she had also rounded up some of her friends to cheer us as we crossed the finish. As I was one of the last, they had been there for hours.

So now I remember why I do it - 6 months of training, tortured muscles, hours of solitude in a beautiful wilderness. But at the end, I know that I one of a very small group - Brits who have skied border to border across Finland. Last time I only just managed it - right at the limit of my endurance and capabilities. So two years on, can I repeat it and prove that there is still life in the old man yet? Only time will tell - you will have to come back to follow the actual trip. Day 2, the first skiing day in the RR, is Thursday March 8th, but I will be training in Kuusamo from the 3rd, so check back in for progress.

Less than a month to go!

One month to go (well it was when I started writing this post). No matter what I do, I don't seem to be able to lose any weight, and I could do with losing a few more kg. Why? Well it is a few less kg to carry for 450km, but also cross country skis are matched to your weight and only work for a narrow range of weights. This is because when you are balanced across both skis, the middles need to be clear of the ground so that you are running on the front and back glide zones. Thus if you are too heavy for your skis, then they will run slower. Equally, if you are too light, then when you put your weight on one ski, it will not flex flat so the sticky (grip) wax section is fully in contact with the snow.

I also looked up the long term forecast for March. The current indication is that Feb and March will be slightly warmer than average in Scandinavia. This led me to think what the best temperature range is. From someone without the innate understanding Scandinavians have of wax, it seems to me that firstly you don't want the temperature to vary much throughout the day, as different waxes are needed for different temperature ranges. The colder the snow, the harder the wax needed - grip is created by the ice crystals poking into the wax, so softer snow needs softer wax.Between -5C and -10C is probably a good range.

Staying in a hotel with an exercise room enables me to get some training in every day, but also to experiment to try to find the optimimum between heart rate and speed. But I may have discovered another trick. I tried using the elevation on the running machine, and adding a few degrees starts to work some slightly different muscles - possibly the ones that swelled up last time. This might be because when cross country skiing, although you are mostly on the flat, you are angled slightly forward to be able to propel yourself along. This is equivalent to being more upright but on a slight slope. Still anything that can exercise and strengthen my leg muscles in different directions is probably good. I remember last time thinking that after 450km I would turn in a fast running time when back to my 16.4km Saturday runs only to find that for the first few weeks back I was really slow because now my running muscles were a problem.

There is one glimmer of hope on the horizon for training, but it is not due for a couple of years. This is the snow dome to be built at Locking, less than 10 miles from home. Although this is designed only for downhill skiing, I expect that at quiet times it will be possible to do some skiing there, even if it is only to practise going up and down hills or even just using the drag lift up and skiing down.

Training is all ups and downs. I have now lost a few days through a wonderful dose of sickness and the runs, but on the bright side, it might help me get the weight down, and at least it is better to get the virus now than half way across Finland.

Here we go again

As some of you know, two years ago I went for the challenge of skiing across Finland. At the time, I was 56, did a bit of cross country skiing - about 6 days per year, and never skied more than 35km in a day. But I stumbled across the Rajalta Rajalle Hiihto - the English translation is "Border to Border Ski" which was in its 27th year. The borders in question are the Russian and Swedish borders, making the trip 444km across Northern Finland from just north east of Kuusamo/Ruka to Tornio.

Now when you look at it on the map, it is not 444km, but over the years the people doing it decided that the shortest route was not enough of a challenge, and so it has grown by more than 100km over the years. This year, it is 450km, so it has gained a few since two years ago.

Well I did complete it two years ago - just - I even managed the day of 87km and still was not the last to finish. It is not a race, but there are always a few keen ones. There was never any danger I would be anywhere other than close to the back. What did surprise me was that I was one of the younger ones.

It is something you never forget - you forge a bond with some of your fellows. For some people, it is an irrestible lure, like Alfred who is well into his 70s and is doing it this year for the 21st time. I have succumbed and am going back for a second time; just like Freddy, the Italian who did it for the first time when I did two years ago.

What makes it a little harder for me is that I am one of a small group that does not live anywhere snow and able to train in the winter. I have tried roller skis, but they are totally different and require stronger ankles and operate in different degrees of freedom to real skis.

This year, I have at least managed to get a couple of sessions on snow - but this was by taking my skis to Helsinki in December (I was there for a meeting) and with the snow being late, I was reduced to training on an indoor track.

Other than this, all I can do is just get fit through running, cycling (of which I have done little this time) and time on the rowing machine. This year, it is harder because I am away on business a lot of the time, so am reduced to pounding the streets of Brussels, or checking into upmarket hotels which have fitness rooms.

Why do I do it? I don't really know. I have always been fascinated with the snowy regions - our geology teacher at school had worked on the British Antarctic Survey, so that and the story of Scott and the South Pole. The other day I was contemplating this, and concluded that the nicest obituary anyone could write for me might be something like "he didn't just sit at a desk". Actually I do know why I did it the first time. I wanted to know that if life got really difficult, as it inevitably does as you get older, would I be one who would rise to the challenge, or would I be a quitter.So this time around it is to prove to myself that I can do it again.

It is only four weeks on Saturday that I fly out for 3-4 days to acclimatise before the RR starts on Thursday March 8th. My fitness does not seem to be improving much, but on my Saturday run, the heart rate is getting consistently lower. My spirits have been lifted by seeing that Andrew Musgrave - the top British cross country skier - finished second in the 15km race in the Norwegian championships.

Last time I raised money for Wallace and Gromit's Grand Appeal. This time I thought Sport Relief would be a good cause.