Training for the Tour of Anchorage

Every year in March Zoya and I do the Tour of Anchorage cross country ski race in Anchorage.  Neither of us particularly enjoys competitive racing - and come March I dread 'race week' - but we both like training for a race.  It forces us to stay active and train all fall and winter - to ski when it is raining rather than staying home.  For a few years I stopped doing the Tour and I noticed that I was slowly getting out of shape because I lacked the incentive to get into really good shape.  No one wants to embarrass themselves in the big race.

Anyway, the picture above is where I have been training for the last few days.  I have a 3K icy loop up in the mountains.  I probably would not be training every day on this loop if I was not getting ready for a race.  That said, it is pretty good training.  I have to skate ski 400 feet vertical just to get to the loop, and then there are lots of ups and downs all around the loop.  Once I get up the mountain and skiing around the loop it is actually quite enjoyable, and I am glad to be training for the Tour.  Patrick