Day 5 - the shortest day

Today is the shortest day, but in some respects the hardest. It comes after the effort of the longest day, which has already taken it out of those not incredibly fit. My Polar training load went off the top of the scale - beyond "do not train" a couple of days ago, and each day I am putting in a work load that takes it from zero into the red zone.

 It is colder than anticipated this morning, Annita, the organiser, says that it was -28C when she got up this morning. For comparison, this is colder than the record cold temperature ever recorded in the UK.

 Since there is no professional waxing service here, I decided that since my skis were gliding not too badly, it would be better to leave them alone and just put on fresh grip wax. This is where I have learnt a bit from having skis waxed by locals. The temperature by the time we start may have risen to around -20C and the prediction is a high of -10C. So, in theory, I ought to use the -10C to -30C wax, or even the -6C to -15C wax. Instead I use the blue wax -4C to -10C as it does go down to -15C on some types of snow. More importantly, it is what the experts have been using and so far it has worked very well for me. In very cold weather, the skis do not glide as well anyway.

 Todays theoretical distance is 44km; the GPS distance is 50km, hence the frequent comments about the variability of Finnish kilometres.

 Tonight we are split between two old school houses - Ruona and Hosio. Ruona is the penultimate stop, so those people ski on past their accommodation to then be bussed back. This tests the will power, as it is so tempting not to ski on past. This is the first of two nights in sleeping bags on mattresses on the floor. Even though this means there is a good snoring "chorus", most people are tired enough to sleep regardless. At Ruona, we have a mobile sauna, which looks like a small caravan fed by an external stove.

 It is also the first time since we started that I actually enjoy eating and want more. This is not an adverse comment on the food. It is just that I find I want to eat less after hard exercise, and getting enough calories on the RR is a big problem for me. This year, it has become more apparent. After a while when I am in a higher "gear" I can feel my body telling me that I am not giving it enough fuel. I have tried a variety of things - energy shots, protein and energy bars etc. This year I tried some energy gel, which is concentrated and you then drink after it, and it was the only thing that seemed to be quick to take in and effective.