The story from the "back" pack of the race.

I had a tough year (I am talking about an academic year) - my sports ambitions have been completely replaced by a new job. I was hesitating "to ski or not to ski" my La Transjurassienne FT 30 until the very last moment - i.e. until I put my skis on the snow on 12.02.2010, when we came to Jura from Paris.

I was trying to be realistic: I had some skiing shape left from the winter ski camp + some rather sporadic running and swimming and cycling activities afterwards. On the other hand, my skiing technique has improved since the last year and my new skis had to be tested on the race ;).

Bottom line, what I could expect was to finish the distance and, in the case of a good gliding, to improve a bit my timing of a previous year. [* in 2009 it was a fresh snow and quite a slow race. In addition, I made a serious mistake - I did not eat during the first half of the race - and had a bad sugar drop. As a result, a long and painful race it was].

14.02.2010. The day of the race.

Anna and me shared a hotel room with a broken heater. We had a room temperature around 16oC - exactly what is needed for an athlete before the race according to the C.T. Bible. ;)

I woke up at 9h00 in the morning. Thanks to a good portion of blankets and an "official La transju cap", I had a good almost 10h sleep. Valia has left very early for his 76km and I had no news from him except of an alarming sms at 8h05, saying that he is on the starting line and "..Bogdanov is not there yet" (?!????!!)

Misha and Ania, who did their races the day before, made me a company. With Ania, we have eaten all the bagets included in the hotel breakfast + some improvised porridge, prepared in a cup of a warm milk provided by our hostess. It was snowing outside - not a good start of the racing day. Comparing to the previous days [we have arrived in the place on 12.02] it got warmer and I had to revise my racing outfit. As the start was planned for 14h30 - I had all my time to prepare.

The plan for today for all three of us was to pack, to check out, and to go to the start place in Chapelle des Bois.

After my packing was done, I have taken 2 little tubes of L-Carnitine powder, a portion of magnesia, and have prepared my belt for the race: 3 gels and a bottle of a hot water from the tap [it would cool with a time but there is a chance that I would still have it not icy cold at least in the beginning of the race]. Misha gave me a portion of a magic powder [perhaps I should not write about it here as I still do not know what it was exactly - it was in a glass jar from caviar..] which supposed to improve my performance on the distance even more! ;). I have diluted it in 300ml of water and put into another bottle in order to drink it in the car. Frankly speaking, the mixture of a not-very-clean-bottle taste and a chalk taste of this powder was not very pleasant. In addition, I knew the rule that you should not taste new things before the race. I was quite hesitant but curiosity won and I have taken a half of my portion.

My skis have been waxed the evening before by the team of Misha + Valia + Ania. I have trusted them a good deal ;). We have checked out around 11h40 and started towards Chapelle des Bois.

We passed by Les Rousses first and then headed to my starting place. In spite of the fact that distances were very short, it took us a good deal of time and risk to come to Chapelle des Bois as we had summer tiers. Thanks to Misha, who drove very carefully, we arrived to the starting point of FT 30 around 13h - 1h30min before the race - perfect timing!

As we have been there with Valia the day before following Ania on her 25km CT and Misha on his 50km CT, I knew the place quite well. Today it was less sunny and less windy. The food stalls have been almost empty thanks to hungry 54 and 76km skiers who kept passing by.

Misha, Ania and me took the skis and went on the track. I was happy to admit that my waxing team did a great job and that my skis are working well. What bothered me a bit, was an unusual starting time - 14h30. As I had no time for a lunch [and had no idea what I could eat before the race as a lunch?!] I was afraid that my energy received in the form of breakfast will be over even before I start the race. I have decided to eat 2 cereal bars 1 hour before the race and promised to myself NOT TO MISS the first food stall after 10km and to take a gel there. That was it.

Misha and Ania went to explore the circle around Chapelle des Bois, I was warming up slowly, skiing about 3km, eat my bars as planned and went back to start at 13h45. I put my warm clothes to the bag and left it in the micro bus which would transport it to Mouthe. Just before I've got an sms that Valia has finished his race. I refilled my bottle with the hot tap water in the toilette. As I would run wearing a thin odlo sweater only, I have decided to keep myself warm and stay indoors until 14h15.

Chapelle des Bois – Mouthe

I came to the starting line at 14h15. There were 2 starting lines, separated from each other by a net: the first one for the elite, and the second - for all the others. Our elite line counted about 8 athletes.

When I came, there was not so many skiers yet and I have taken a place on the right side of my line, close to front, keeping the distance from my neighbors. In 5 minutes I found myself very tightly surrounded by other participants and started thinking about my strategy:

1. Do not rush into the crowd after the start! Equipment is expensive.. 2. Do not bother about a crowd running through you and leaving you behind. People start fast - it is normal. You did it many times and you know well that it does not work! Let them go and see what will happen on the second half of the race. 3. Do not burn yourself running hard after the "speedy racers" - find your group and follow them. 4. Run first 10km, see how it goes, eat, and then try to correct your speed based on your feeling. 5. Be aware of this ascend on 15-th km. 6. Try to finish smiling!

That was the plan more or less..

5 min before the start Misha appeared. He spotted me in the crowd from the hill next to the start line and started explaining me the profile of my first 10km. I heard nothing but was very glad to see him. It is so cool to have a team cheering you up!

Start.

The first two parts of the plan was not so difficult to follow. The crowd rushed away from me and I was trying to keep my poles safe. I have realized that my skis are working damn well! I was able to step into the classic track and, working only with my hands, started overtaking people on the main track. Alas.. not for a long time. I had to leave the classic track at some point and Boom! I fell right on the strait line, not further then 400m from the start! Fortunately, none followed me. I lost the speed, started again and immediately passed by another funny scene: 1 old guy fell and dragged another old guy with him to the ground. Their equipment got stuck somehow and they started fighting and shouting in French. People passing by were smiling.

First 11km were rolling hills: I have realized that I can "collect" people easily on the even short downhills. Sticking to my plan, the problem with "finding my group" appeared almost immediately. I was trying to reach the people and follow them but I was immediately leaving them on the next downhill. Here I have realized that probably all "my groups" are already very much ahead of me.. This was a disadvantage of "starting slowly"..

I was skiing almost all the time alone. "Never mind, it gonna be better when we merge with the common track, where people from 54km and 76km are still skiing." After 6km I have checked my time - almost 31min. So slow!!! But I forced myself not to panic and not to speed up too much, especially because I have realized the first signs of hunger. Several flat parts and downhills helped me to collect a bit of my energy and to speed up at the zone marked as "sprint 200m" ;) . I have arrived at the first food stall in Chapelle des Bois - our starting point - in 51min after the start. I took my time, eat a gel and drank 2 cups of worm sweet tea. A long train of skiers passed me by - that did not bother me much.

I have started towards the "famous" hill on the 15-th - 16-th km, which we have been practicing with Valia the day before. I knew that I have about 5km reasonably flat ahead of me and after eating carefully, I was feeling much better again. I was chasing people: my skis were working perfectly well. One girl - I've reached here already but she went ahead when I was eating ; the guy; two men from 76km [very exhausted though..]... I was not bored :). At one point I've spotted Ania running towards me from the road and holding the camera. Here is my team! I should work for the camera and ski nicely! ;) I changed the skiing style to one-skate and passed by my photographers.

15km mark. I have to be careful and recover before climbing the hill which starts soon! But.. NO WAY!!! I see the full gang of people cheering me: Valia, Zhenia, Sean, Ania, Misha! So great! I planned to start the hill slowly - they did not let me ;). I tried to reach out of their sight, to hide and slow down a bit - but they kept following me in the car. Damn it!

I climbed the hill after a group of guys who slown me down. I was feeling good and knew that the hill is over soon and tried to accelerate, but the track was quite narrow and bitten - no way to overtake anyone. I ended up following the crowd. I kept collecting people on the downhill and passed 16km mark. Next food stall was coming. I've seen all my supporters again! Oufff! I cannot make it for a good picture anymore! Give me a break! I drank a tea and took a piece of orange.

The second part of the race went much smoother then the first one. Some hills to climb and some flat parts to speed up and a long icy downhill not to fall on - piece of cake ;).

When I've reached this downhill I could see from far away the skiers stopping before it and starting slowly into almost a "bobsleigh tube". Reaching this point, I was feeling quite confident and decided to try it on the parallel skis on the side of the track. That worked well. I have even harvested some "envy" comments from the guys whom I have managed to overtake.

8km before the finish I've got an unexpected trouble - my right eye got frozen [in spite of the mask I was wearing] : I've got a blurred vision and I have realized that I do not see the depth of field any more. Blinking did not help. Since then my alternating between the classic track [for downhills] and main track got much more difficult. Another point - I was skiing alone still. Not so cheerful.. Even when you have 2 cars of your supporters following you and screaming to you almost all the time. At one point I have almost missed the sharp turn to the right - with my blurred vision, I have noticed the flags on the snow only at the very last moment.

5km before the finish line - I've got a cramp on the right hip. Ok... I have changed the skiing style trying to relax it. It helped a little. I was rushing to the finish and saw one guy from the same race [FT 30] ahead of me. I wondered if we could compete with him on the finish line! I was following him. Seemed like I could catch up or even overtake him! Last 1km. I have reached the guy and rushed forward. I did not see a damn on the ground thanks to my blurred eye and had to lift my legs high to avoid falling on some "invisible" bump... I think it looked quite funny ;) Valia was cheering me on the finish line!! I left the guy behind and was smiling, just as planned!

To finish the story: it was a very good race! Very unusual for me too: I did the second half 10 min faster than the first one; I did a good job on all downhills; my skis worked very well all the way; I was feeling good, and I had A LOT of support from my team! Downsides: I was skiing alone, perhaps 2 min were separating me from "my group". Probably I should not start THAT slow next time. I should also plan better my nutrition [not to spend so much time for the first eating].

Overall, I could do better and I will next time!