And now for RR 2015 ...

After all the problems with injury last year, I carefully paced myself through the summer and had just got back to full fitness by the end of September ...

and then ...

... did a stupid thing - did not notice an uneven pavement in Brussels and turned my ankle over, went flying head first, rucksack flying over my head. The good news - I didn't break anything - I believe that because I am not very good at skiing, I have learnt to fall forwards safely, and so just ripped clothes and a few grazes. However, I did badly twist my ankle and walking hard for best part of a month and even now I still can't run.

Still, as I learned from last year, I still have time to recover and get back in shape. I just hope is not as bad as when I did 17 years ago, also in Brussels, when it was many months and the best part of a year to full recovery (if it ever did, because that is the ankle that usually swells a little when skiing anyway).

I will just have to improve upper body strength more so that I can double pole better! Where there's a will, there's a way!

It is a small world. In a week in Brussels, I met the PhD supervisor for one of this year's RR1 skiers from the US and a Finn who used to work for one of the RR1 regulars. It never ceases to amaze me how closely connected we all are.

The RR story, as it might have been told by Hans Christian Anderson

At the end of the RR, each nationality group contributes a sketch, song, story etc to a cabaret/revue after the final dinner. This was the Danish/British contribution on RR1.

Many, many years ago, there were some special people. They looked the same as ordinary people, but had a special ability - they could put planks on their feet to go rapidly across snow. Over time, these people were scattered far and wide - to England, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Russia, Japan, the USA and many countries across the world - even some without snow.

People were worried that this special power would be lost, so in 1984 they decreed that once per year these special people must come to Finland and ski all the way from Russia in the east to Sweden in the west.

Father Winter and Mother Earth put many obstacles in their way. Father Winter freezes their fingers and toes. Mother Earth sends warmth to make skiing more difficult, melting the rivers and lakes and snow.

But the devil helps the skiers - he makes a magic substance called klister, which the skiers put on the bottom of their skis so they can ski on the melting snow, and an army of helpers shovel snow onto the tracks and even make bridges so they skiers can continue.

Some skiers fall by the wayside , but eventually most will reach Tornio. They have a special ceremony where they sing songs and tell stories about their trip. Only then can the spring in the north begin.

The skiers than go back to their homes and pass the legend on. Many will come back again, so that the world can be kept in balance, and continue to live in peace and harmony.

Naturally the story could have been much longer, but a short bad story is always better than a long bad story! But the bit about klister raised a laugh - it really is stuff from the devil - for those who don't know it, it is a sort of glue you put on your skis instead of wax for warm (above 0C) temperatures, but it not only sticks to the snow, but you, your clothes, everything, and it takes several washes to get it out of your clothes.

Although I do this for fun, I also do it to raise money for charity - Sports Relief - which raises a large amount of money, much of which is spent on sustainable projects in Africa. So if you have enjoyed my story, please donate at http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/tonygore - no matter how small, a large number of small donations add up to a lot, and a big difference especially to the children of Africa, for whom I wrote story above.

RR Day 7 - the last day

None of the normal route for today is skiable, Instead, it has been arranged that we will ski from Kalle - our normal lunch stop at the ski centre out to a café inland and back - 23.5km each way. This track is part of the ski centre network and is groomed throughout the winter with one of the big trail machines, which means that there is a good hard packed base.

I notice when we get there, there is a banner up for a race along that trail in 10 days time. Without a drop in temperature and some fresh snow, this may be hopeful.

The trail is gently uphill and nice and fast when we start out; there are some patches of ice where the bogs have thawed and frozen again. I use the trail to build on the fact that I can sustain double poling to get to grips with the double pole/single kick - a technique I have known for years, but never been strong enough to sustain. The difference now that I can keep these techniques going is significant.  I am able to get and sustain a 20% increase in speed, although until I have finished studying the heart rate data, I won't know how much more effort it is taking, and thus whether it is actually more efficient overall in terms of economy.

The track was a bit thin in places, and at one point volunteers were shovelling snow onto the track. On the return trip, the temperature had made it harder to glide, and some of the bog ice simply could not support the weight of skiers by the time we got to the end, and many of us failed in our attempts to cross it without wet boots. These included picking our way gingerly around or across to, I believe, and attempt to jump it, which didn't work either. Still it provides a good test of the properties of ski socks, and within about twenty minutes, mine no longer felt cold and soggy in my boots.

And so we come to the end. We have skied across Finland from border to border, at least where conditions and safety permitted. We have coped with (as Jonathan describes) "interesting" conditions (where "interesting" has different nuances in English).

I have been tracking the merits of the "zero" skis - skis designed to operate without wax only in conditions around 0C. Some people love them, some hate them; at +5C even the proponents resorted to waxed skis and klister. On the injury count, it is a draw - one all ( 1 - 1) - one injury due to a zero ski suddenly gripping when the skier didn't expect it and the same happening to a traditional ski with klister. Both happened at low speed, on the level - this sort of thing happens to me all the time - sufficiently so that maybe I am so used to being caught out and falling in these circumstances that I have perfected the art of falling. Many people have told me that indeed these is an art to falling, so perhaps I have found something I am good at!

I took a quick trip to the sports shop to see if there were any end of season bargains (cross country equipment is nearly impossible to buy in the UK) but the zero skis were not on offer. I suppose it avoids the comment when I get home of "why do you need yet another pair of skis" from someone who has nearly as many horse saddles as I have skis.

There is the RR tradition of each nationality providing some form of entertainment after dinner on the final evening - a sort of revue/cabaret. Those of us who are alone as a nationality can join another group. This year, having grown up in what was a Danish village twelve centuries ago, and having shared rooms with the Danes, I join them. Our theme was "The RR story as it might have been written by Hans Christian Anderson".  As it has been requested, I provide the story at the end.

This year it was the turn of the Kuusamo municipality to provide the souvenir (the six municipalities the RR passes through take it in turns). It is a lovely handmade ceramic votive from the pottery in Kuusamo (run, according to my source on the first RR, by a Brit).

Many friendships develop over the course of the RR. It also throws up coincidences - two of those from the US are actually fellow Brits and it turns out that for two years, the three of us were at the same university, but in different departments all of fifty metres apart.

During the RR, we have normally been in bed and asleep not long after 9pm, but the last night is when we catch up on fun. There is a 24 hour bar across the street from the hotel, which is how I find myself playing bingo in Finnish - with some help on the numbers as I only know about half a dozen of them. It is mostly the same people each year - those who like to work hard and play hard. Most of this hard core group of us will be back next year. We were comparing notes on what we do for a living, and concluded that a high proportion of us work either in healthcare or IT, and many of our reasons for doing the RR are similar - physical exercise and away from the stress of modern work, the RR provides many of us with a week of "active meditation"; some of us (i.e. me) are so tuned out that we take wrong turns. In the evening entertainment, someone described it like "kindergarten for adults" - we are told when to get up, eat, which bus to catch, when to go to sleep. For those of us who have (or are expected) to be in control all the time, this release and letting someone else organise and take charge is what we need once in a while.

Finally the weather has one last trick up its sleeve - as I come out of the bar sometime after 1am, I look up to catch a few minutes of the Northern Lights. This is the first time in many trips to Finland I have seen them, and it makes a magical note on which to finish.

And in the words of a famous Austrian,  I know that  "I'll be back"!

RR Day 6

Today I have to pay tribute to the people who make the tracks for us. At one point today, they had to chop down trees, build a bridge and pile snow on top of it to allow us to cross a fast running stream. The lack of snow shows - at times we are skiing through the tops of small trees and bushes that would normally be buried.

The first stretch in the morning is fast, and double poling most of the way I cover 20km in a couple of hours - a great improvement for me, as I have never sustained above 10km/hr for any length of time.

This day is mostly flat in the sense that it doesn't have many hills. However, we are often on ground that undulates - a bit like a ploughed field where the furrows are about a metre deep. This type of skiing keeps me on my toes, but having mastered double poling, I find that this means my skis only need to be steered, and not providing propulsion at the same time.

Double poling is the answer (for me) to icy roads and tracks - previously one of the difficulties I had.

RR Day 5 - the shortest day

Well this year's RR is turning out to be quite a different experience.

This morning there is not enough snow for us to ski safely (or unsafely). Instead, a visit has been arranged to Ranua Zoo. Normally we ski past this a couple of kilometres after we set off, and I have always wanted to visit it. Why? Well it specialises in Artic animals, and so you are seeing them in a similar habitat to their natural one.

We know it is warm because the bear was already out of hibernation - on my first RR the bear woke up the night we stayed in Ranua. I know from previous visits and talking to  a guide that there are a few in the wild east of Kuusamo - this was why I did not want to be the slowest skier this year!

 

Today is normally our shortest day. Those who wanted to keep up their distances skied both ways between the two places our accommodation is split across; some did it there, back and there again. For myself, I took the opportunity of the shorter distance to allow my leg injuries to recover.

 Today we also saw at least one more person depart through injury. So far, the ones I know about are all their skis catching and gripping suddenly - the sort of thing that normally happens to me ten times a day, usually in front of the largest number of people. Today was the first day I didn't fall; unlike day 2 where I fell getting off the bus before I had even got my skis on.

It seems like this blog is read by my people than I thought before coming on the RR - it seems I am not the only non-expert skier after all.

I discovered last night that a fellow skier has been doing for years what I have tried on this trip - wearing compression running socks under ski socks. I can report that in my case, my right leg normally swells up a bit on every previous RR. This year, using compression socks because of injury, I have not had this, and had no problems with my shins so far. The twinges in my knees are simply due to age, and there isn't anything I can do about that.

Each year I discover new things that make it easier as I get older - so far, the improvements I discover each year outweigh the what I lose on age. It effectively sets me a challenge - how long can I keep improving? Another decade? I have a particular target of another six years - when you have completed 10 RRs, you receive a master skier award. This is not an award for style, skill or competence - just the ability to ski from Russia to Sweden ten times.

RR Day 4 - the longest day

Today is the longest day. It won't be as long as normal due to the frozen marshland for one stretch being a lake. It is still the longest day even with this section taken out. Skiing in above zero temperatures is a challenge - trying to get grip on the skis. By the time it gets to about +1C, you can't use waxes as they become ineffective - you use klister - a sort of soft glue. As well as snow, this sticks to everything.

A strong wind has blown bits of birch bark and pine needles onto the track; klister sticks to these and they form a barrier between the skis and the snow, reducing the grip.

The dangers of the warm temperatures become apparent later on; I am now the last person on track, as others have given up. I am also one of the heaviest, and following in the tracks of others, this soon becomes apparent crossing what I think is a frozen bog as the water starts to reach the top of my boots. A bit of probing with the ski poles shows that it is worse ahead, so I back up and find a firmer route round. At the start of the day, this was solid enough to support a snowmobile and the weighted trail setting sledge.

At the end of the day, I fail to note that the trail has been changed from last year and end up struggling several kilometres along the snowmobile tracks until the safety snowmobile pulls up and explains to me that I missed the turn for the changed track and gives me a lift to the end. One of the pitfalls of last minute route changes is that the red/pink tape on the original route still remains.

RR Day 3

The day started with a dispiriting trek through several inches of slush and water in the car park, This only lasted 5 minutes before we were on snow. The rain may have dampened spirits a bit, but after lunch in the warm inside, and blue skies appearing, we forgot the damp and skied on to Syote. This is in the middle of a national park and is very beautiful.

But we all took up a new sport of water skiing - there was a couple of inches of water on top of the ice on the river.

The rapidly disappearing snow made conditions "challenging". First I need to explain my experience (rather lack of). I only thought about this when comparing notes  I realised some people ski more in a season than I have in my life. Over the last 40 years, I have about 6 weeks downhill skiing and prior  to my first RR 9 weeks cross country skiing, nearly all in the last ten years or so; with three RRs previously, that experience is now up to 15 weeks.

By challenging, I mean that the tracks can be quite narrow and sometimes that snow can be soft. For someone with a natural balance on skis who can correct quickly this causes no problems. My skiing is more like that of a supertanker - it takes a long time to change direction.

I have been puzzled why, despite my lack of fitness and training, there are some things I am doing better. For example, in the past I could only sustain double poling (pushing yourself along only with your poles and not "kicking" with the skis) for a very short time; this trip, I can sustain it for tens of minutes. Finally, I think I have the reason - there are two reasons - the first is the fitness classes Kevin runs for our running club on Thursdays, and the second is that I have spent a lot of time working on my wife's new equestrian facilities. Moving 40 tonnes of wood chip (two deliveries a couple of weeks apart) is definitely a good upper body workout, as is putting in fence posts.

RR day 2

We have challenging conditions today - at time skiing in the clouds, so there is a light drizzle (of rain) which means it is above zero. For me, this means that I cannot see very well because I need to wear glasses all the time. At times I was basically skiing more or less blind - if my skis made a continuous "shhh" noise, then I am in the track, and a crackling noise means in the track!

Fortunately I solved this problem - I had some anti-mist stuff in my rucksack so I was able to get it at the lunch stop. Day 2 lunch stop is one of my favourite - a hearty soup with great chunks of salmon; this is served round a fire in a Samu (Lapp) tent. A coffee and a sweet bun and I was ready to continue.

I always wondered if I could manage to keep up when skiing conditions are not so good. Now I now the answer - I may have dropped back when I couldn't see where I was going, but later found myself catching up. I discovered a new skiing technique near the end - the "parallel half plough"! To slow myself, I stepped one ski out of the track intending to angle it and slow myself down, but found to my surprise that the drag from the ski on the soft snow was more than enough to slow me without the plough.

Some of the downhills were more challenging than usual through a lack of snow remaining. Grip was not easy for many people - what works on snow doesn't work on ice or water. I decided that the professional had probably done the best compromise on my waxing. So when it didn't grip on ice, I stepped out onto the snow where I had a good grip. Various people tried "zero" no-wax skis - these are ones designed to work only around 0C and are different to my waxless skis. My skis were gliding a treat today, so I decided that gained much more from this than what I was losing in grip on occasions

I finished the day a better skier than I started the day. The legs are holding up well, as is my endurance, although I am pacing myself carefully. I ended the day with a big smile - I rose to the challenge of difficult conditions and could easily have skied further.

I am also reliably told that if I double pole for 6 hours a day for a month, I will have a flat stomach.
 I burned just under 4,000 calories in 8 hours - cross country skiing at my average pace burns 500 calories per hour at an average heart rate (today) of 107 - not bad, considering the hills we had. At my age, 4000 calories is more than I should eat in two days. The energy gels seem to be working out - I used three today in 8 hours - one in the morning and two in the afternoon at rest stops. These provide a fairly instant boost of energy just at the times I need it and it may be a contributing factor to feeling less exhausted after each day.

So far, so good. The real test will be can I do day 4 (87km) and finish before it is dark? This would be a first for me - not completing the day, but finishing before total darkness.

Finally going - RR day 1

Leading up to it

Tuesday was another good day of training, but lost a couple of hours trying to deal with a UK bank. Did a gentle 40km split between morning and afternoon - I find when trying to build up the training, having a good rest and meal at lunchtime makes it much easier to do a decent session in the afternoon.

Because of my lack of fitness and limited training in the six months run up to this year's RR, I have been really concerned that I would be up to it. However, there is an upside to being a bit of an obsessive nerd - I have all the data from last year's training to compare it to. The main variables are me and my fitness, and the weather conditions and conditions of the tracks i.e. whether they are fast and gliding better or slow etc.

The good news is that there is very little difference - maybe doing slightly better this year, despite age and everything else.

Wednesday - arrival and briefing

Did some last minute shopping - as the wearing of compression running socks appears to be helping my legs, it may be worth continuing. I only have one pair, but luckily managed to pick up a couple of pairs of another sort at Intersport. Browsing waxes (for a cross country skier, waxes, and especially grip waxes becomes an obsession) I asked what the difference is between a tar wax and an ordinary wax. The answer is that tar waxes give better grip on new snow; someone told me later that they have the benefit of not freezing.

Tar used to be a major industry in the Kuusamo area centuries ago. Tar, in this context, is the resin tapped from pine trees. In shipbuilding (in the days of wooden boats), rope was forced into the gaps between the planks, and then the tar was heated and applied to the rope. Pine tar is also used to make a rather unique "tar ice cream" which I have had in a Viking restaurant in Turku a few years back.

Supposedly ready, I then took a taxi out to Oivanki centre; ominously the roads are mostly clear of snow and ice. Today I am sharing a room with a load of Danes. We were comparing notes on how to train, as they have very little more snow to train on than I do. They tell me that roller skiing is not the best way - too many bruises.

And now to the briefing. All the usual stuff, but this time we are more concerned with the weather and the implications. This is the second warmest winter in the last hundred years in Finland. The effect of this is that we have start at the 20km point. A lot of the first 20km is along a frozen river; but today it is not frozen. Since none of us can ski on water - at least not without a power boat to pull us along, we cannot use this, and there are no trails through the forest as an alternative.

Klaus has bad news on the weather front; an update on Monday night now shows that it will be warmer and to expect heavy rain for Friday. A large part of the county where I live (Somerset) has been underwater, and since leaving on Saturday I have received 5 flood warnings - 2 from the rivers and 3 from the sea, I was hoping to escape the relentless rain. It seems that I will not!

RR - day 1 - the start

We still have to have our bags packed as they are going on the coach that will drop them off on its way to collect participants for RR2 - the wave that starts tomorrow. We leave a couple of hours later so that the faster skiers do not arrive at the hotel for the evening before they are ready.

At least I wasn't the first to fall - someone fell before the start line, but I managed all of 5 metres before I went over. I always fall when the maximum number of people can see me. But as Liisa says - you need to learn how to fall so it doesn't hurt. My first RR had lots of painful falls - these days I guess I don't care, and so relax when falling, and so don't hurt.

We hadn't gone far when the track had to use a lake - where a stream (which would normally still be frozen) was running into it, there was open water, a few feet of ice which we skied over, and then another patch of open water. Our patch of ice was thick enough, as the snowmobile setting the trail had gone over it, and I think the water is very shallow at that point. But it highlights the difficulties; the locals all say that the current weather is much like the spring normally is in April.

The day is largely uneventful - Thor-Frederic said that stepping out of the tracks to help me up restored the grip on his no-wax skis - his new ones are a different sort to waxless skis I am used to. We seem to match each other for pace; since he is a better skier than me, it may well be taking him a little more effort.

We had been warned that the steep downhills might need extra care, especially the two down onto frozen lakes near the end. I managed the first ones perfectly under control (obviously with no-one around to see); the first one down onto the lake, I took my cue from one of the Finns and walked down - I really can't afford a leg injury.

So I arrived at the end of day 1, a little tired, a few aches, but generally OK. I have learnt to pace myself better these days.

The real surprise was that Thor-Frederic had a fall somewhere behind me and has a fractured collarbone. So on the advice of Kuusamo hospital, he is flying to Helsinki tomorrow for an operation. All the best wishes of the rest of us go with him for a speedy recovery, but I guess he won't be leading us over the finish line.

Things are on the up

This morning there were a few flurries of snow around - a good test for the waxing. Did a faster trip this morning and a slower one at what felt a comfortable pace in the afternoon. Thus I got a total of 52km done today - most I have ever done on a second day's training. Burnt off about 3200 calories in just over six hours.

This afternoon was what they call in F1 a race simulation. Going round Kuusamo there are lots of places where roads need to be crossed - taking skis off and putting them back on. I took drink/refreshment stops and just kept on at a comfortable pace. The result - my average pace is pretty much what I need to do, and usually do manage, in the RR.

Considering how I have been hampered by a lack of training, this is nothing short of remarkable. The main conclusion I can draw from this is the benefits of cross country skiing, with the key element being that it is low impact. OK, as a precaution I am wearing running compression socks to stop the muscles being able to mode too much. Next time I have leg injuries, I will take myself off cross country skiing to recuperate.

At lunchtime I popped in to Elmo Sports to drop a pair of skis off for professional preparation - the guy in there does a really good job. As I turned round to leave, who should be coming in to get his skis prepared was Klaus, who I met on my first RR. He is skiing RR4 this year, but like me has come early to train. I bumped into him a few minutes later in a café at lunchtime. I was commenting on the rising temperatures, and he told me not to worry as it is the dew point that is the key factor, and this is not going above zero this week. Now Klaus works for the German Meteorological Office and he showed me the traces on his smartphone straight from the models. He was also going well and is on the same wax as myself.

So, this is starting to look good

1. My endurance is better than expected
2. My waxing is good
3. The conditions look like they are going to be good, at least for a few days

So I treated myself to some new lycra cross country ski trousers- stylish Italian ones. One has to look the part, even if I do feel a bit "mutton dressed as lamb". This is a bit of a family joke - to be good enough to ski that one could wear lycra - better skiers all wear lycra!

Waxing Lyrical

Well my skis did get here this time - one shouldn't really get a kick out of what should be normal happening.

With a temperature of only -2.5C this morning, we are getting into the area where waxing gets tricky, and waxes only cover a very small temperature range. Probably the most widely used wax is blue - for -3C down to -10C; brown is -6C to -15C and green special is -10C to -30C. Different manufacturers have variations - Swix Red is +3C to 0C whereas Holmenkoll Red is +2 to -1C. Today I went for the Swix V50 Violet, which is 0C to -1/3C (you get different temperatures according to whether it is new snow or old snow).

Whatever. It worked a treat. The tracks were icy - circumstances where waxless skis don't do too well because the pattern doesn't imprint on ice like it does on snow. And icy tracks can be fast - they certainly were today.

So a quick and effortless 17km this morning put a smile on my face. After lunch, the temperature was just above zero, but the Violet wax still managed to work reasonably well. It seems to take a few minutes of being in contact with the snow before the wax gets down to its working temperature, so after putting on grip wax, it might not grip much for the first few minutes - patience is required

I was reading last night about the theory that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert. Studies show that this is about the amount of playing time a musician has put in by the time they become really good. The theory is that talent doesn't exist as such and it is just practice, practice, practice. One guy is so convinced by the theory that he gave up his job to take up golf professionally. So far he is 5,000 hours into practicing, so he is half way there.

So I was thinking about this. I ski about 100 hours per year, and I because I was not so serious, I had probably only clocked up something like 300 hours before my first RR, and for the last 4 years I maybe get about 100 hours per year. So I have done about 700 hours, and if I keep up at 100 hours per year, I will finally be an expert by the time I am 153.This, dear readers, proves that I will never be an expert skier.

Skiing round Kuusamo, I observed that there didn't seem to be as much snow as normal. I asked a local skier and she told me that there was over 80cm in her yard at the beginning of the week, buy two days last week at +5C had melted a half metre of it. In the picture you can see the grass around the base of the tree - I have never see this before in Kuusamo at this time of year.

In the afternoon, the Kuusamo town loop added another 18km to the days tally, bringing it up to a respectable 35km for the first day.

Healthwise - as a preventative measure, I used my running support socks inside my running socks to help protect the leg muscles. Seems to have worked.

En Route

Finally on the way. Just looked up the long term forecast for Kuusamo and Syote - predicted temperatures above zero some days! I should have checked before I left. I had debated bringing a pair of waxless skis but this would have meant three pairs in the ski bag, making it heavier. Since I have to travel back via a meeting in Brussels I am trying to travel light. I comfort myself with the thought that the forecast can change - one year it ended up being -30C after earlier predictions of much warmer temperatures.

After the rain we had in Norway two weeks ago I think that we are seeing warmer winters. It takes a long time to separate climate from weather. Back when I was much younger the prediction was for a mini ice age and mountains like Cairngorm having a permanent snow cap!

This morning was the first real frost at home - unbelievably almost spring before we get our first real frost!

 

The coach from Bristol to Heathrow got in early. However, it is not possible to pay for the ski bag until check-in (because the flight is a codeshare and has a connecting flight, it is not possible to pay in advance) and check-in doesn't open until 2 hrs before the flight. Having checked in, my bags had to be held whilst I went and paid for the extra bag. This took 25 mins - it requires various manual transactions to be done. So there was not a great deal of time when I finally got through security - having triggered the alarm with nothing in my pockets, not wearing my watch etc. So grabbed something quick for breakfast, but to avoid rummaging for pounds, I used a credit card. Big mistake - the machine said last chance for PIN when the card was inserted and when I did enter the PIN it failed. A nightmare exchange with the bank ensued, with the result that I it fixed for a couple of weeks until I am back in the UK. Not exactly helpful.
 

Back to the skiing - virtually no snow left here in Helsinki, and the Estonian guy sat next to me on the plane said their snow didn't come until mid-January this year and after two weeks was gone and cross country skiing events had to be cancelled.

 

I blame it on UKIP - all their hot air is responsible for global warming. Has anyone else noticed that the incidence of flooding has increased with the rise of UKIP? (UK political joke).

 

It will be late when I finally arrive in Kuusamo - I wonder if my skis will make it - Finnair don't have the best record with my skis, so I have taken to photographing my luggage prior to checking in as positive identification.

 

Beginning to sound like a real grumpy old man - let's hope it gets a bit colder and sunnier to cheer me up and I can post some nice pictures tomorrow.

Final packing

Well my bags are packed, I'm ready to go,..... I'm leaving on a jet plane..

Unless you are a fan of old music, then you pretty much have to be my age to remember the song - who says "jet plane" these days?  

The big question is have I forgotten anything? Once in northern Finland, shopping opportunities are a bit more limited. This year, I have looked more at nutrition - I tracked down a gel that tasted better than most, doesn't freeze easily, and tracked down the importer (as it turns out to be Danish) and bought a box. I have straps for both knees, just in case.

Two steps forward and one step back

Just as I was getting back into training and thinking that I might just be able to get fit enough, I got hit by a virus. Some kind person where my wife works played the martyr and went in whilst sick to help spread it around. I would probably have still got it anyway, but I do wish people would at least try to keep their viruses to themselves. A month later and I still have the cough.

There was an interview at the Winter Olympics where someone said a virus was worse than an injury - with an injury, you can usually do some forms of training and retain some fitness, but with a virus you have to stop training completely.

Just got back from a week in Norway - stayed in Lillehammer; local trails were poor condition as it was raining when we arrived, so we took buses up to Sjusjoen and Nordseter. The recommendations I had for a good ski shop in Lillehammer were correct - my wife was even able to get a new pair of waxless skis. On our first day, when it was fairly warm even up on the top, she had the last laugh as I and many of the Norwegians (so it isn't just my poor waxing) struggled to find grip with our waxes.

The snow on the trees leads to some fascinating shapes, as can be seen here

I got a bit of training done - muscles I don't normally have trouble with were a problem, especially going uphill, so I had to break myself in gently - it felt like the running injury was starting to recur. But on a couple of test runs by myself, the speed is still there, so the main questions for the RR are will the leg muscles hold up and have I got the endurance after being unable to train much?

Well there is only way to find out, and that is to go out and do it!

5 weeks and counting down.

The RR is getting seriously close now. Fitness is slowly coming back, and tonight I worked the rowing machine harder than I ever have before. The calorie counter is a bit flattering - 1400 calories burned in an hour - I don't think so. A 16km run in 90 minutes only burns 1200 calories, so I generally divide the rowing machine value by 2.

Yes, the knee joints still ache, but this is now more age than lack of fitness. I treat this all as a rehearsal for old age - after all, old age is contagious - we all get it sooner or later!

I now have to get a long exercise session pretty well every day. Weight is going up as I am putting the muscle back. Just watching "The Jump" - it has Eddie the Eagle as one of the coaches. I have stood at the top of those jumps - real scary, but I have never jumped. The RR passes a couple of hills - a small one in Kuusamo and a set of jumps in Taivalkoski.

In a couple of weeks when I am Lillehammer, I can have a go at some of these - skeleton, 4 man bob (professionally piloted). I am trying to get up the nerve to have ago - at 5G the forces are same as F1 drivers get on many corners.

There is plenty of inspiration for me. Andrew Musgrave, a young British cross country skier won the sprint at the Norwegian championships. And someone I do business with, recovering from serious illness - I hope he recovers to come and do the RR with me one day. It reminds me of one of the skiers in my first RR who had beaten cancer twice. And there is Arthur Gilbert from the running club - the world's oldest triathlete - who can put me to shame. If I can keep going as long as him, then expect me at the RR for at least another 30 years.

Actually my target is to make it to 10 RRs - for my master skier award (6 more years after this year) and I'll see how I go after that.

Now the countdown in earnest

One month on and I am starting to recover some fitness. I am back to doing my 16km Saturday run - taking it gently and not as fast as I normally do.

Today I booked all my travel and will do my usual thing of arriving in Kuusamo a few days early. I am resigned to the fact that because of injury my fitness might not be up to where it should be and I might have to take the coach for a short section on the longest days.

However, this is better than trying to push back to full fitness too quickly. I know that I have completed the RR three times in the past, and it would be a disappointment not to complete every last metre. But I have just learned that my body has limits - it was pushing too hard to gain 35 seconds on my personal best half marathon time that gave me an injury putting me out of action for over 3 months.

I really look forward to seeing so many people who have become my friends over the years - I can recognise at least 15 people for this year's RR1 that I recognise.

Now I will have to add my sponsorship details for Sports Relief and see how much I can manage to raise this year.