Kris Freeman

I have been doing this sport long enough now to know that things don’t always go your way.  I was expecting better results over the last month but I had not real goals but to get stronger throughout period one.  My racing sensations have improved.  I am not skiing at the level that I know I need to in order reach my goals at the Olympics but I still have 50 or so days to come to peak form.  For a decade and a half I have been striding and striving year round to perform at my best in Sochi.  I am glad that I have not come into the season too hot but now it is time for the nerves to come in and kick me into gear.

 

 

When things don’t go your way in a xc race it is hard to determine exactly what the problems are. There are the usual waxing disparities and varying pacing strategies as well as countless different methods of training and preparation. Wading through those variables to find the best way to maximize your body’s potential is a daunting task. Throwing diabetes into the mix can sometimes feel like throwing darts at an ocean. I don’t know why I was able to ski effortlessly for 10k of the 15k race on Saturday only to blow up so badly over the last 5k that I lost a 20 second lead and finished in third place. It could have been pacing, it could have been preparation, it could be something I haven’t thought of, or it could be one of a billion variables caused by being an insulin dependent diabetic. My immediate reaction to the race was to figure out exactly why I wasn’t able to perform as expected and make a change. But quite frankly I haven’t been able to determine what went wrong, so I have no choice but to continue trying my best. I have always been an inconsistent performer. Some days I can ski with the best in the world and some days I struggle just to finish. My doctors and I have been unsuccessful determining what makes the difference on my good and bad days. What we do know is that there would be no good days if I were to give up, so I keep going out and giving my all. When the stars align I am one of the best in the world. Maybe instead of obsessing over insulin protocol I will start studying constellations.  thanks to Ian Harvey at Toko for the great pictures.

This Weekend I drove back up to Presque Isle Maine to take part in the Ride Aroostook bike tour which benefits the children’s diabetes program “Camp Adventure.” I have worked with this camp on two occasions, going for a downriver canoe and participating in a run and shoot biathlon relay race. I was impressed with the organization and ambition of the camp.

Ride Aroostook is a two day bike tour that is advertised as being 150 miles total (by my measurement it was 62 miles the first day and 70 the second). I decided that it would be fitting for me as an Olympic skier and type 1 diabetic to roller-ski the event in order to drum up more donations and draw more attention to Camp Adventure.

I skated the first day and really enjoyed the well marked course that hugged river beds and meandered through rolling potato fields. The weather was nearly perfect at 68 degrees and blue sky. However a strong wind made some of the open sections a little slower than I would have preferred. There were three aid stations spread out evenly which meant I could ski with just a water-bottle belt and restock at each stop. Using Swenor skate skis with “2″ wheels it took me five hours and four minutes to complete the 62 miles. That evening the event organizers provided an Italian buffet for the riders. I was the keynote speaker and gave a short speech at the dinner.

Day two saw even better weather. A full sun and 70 degrees was complimented by a light breeze. The course consisted of two loops. The first was 33 miles long and the second was 37 around. I double poled the first loop on Swenor classic skis with “3″ wheels in 2:45 and realized that I would be out for six hours if I completed the whole course on my slow skis. So I switched to my Swenor “2′s” and continued onto the last loop which I double poled in 2:50 for a total time of 5:36.

Thanks to some generous donations I was able to raise nearly $1800 and I got two well supported over distance workouts in the process. I would say I had a successful weekend. Now I am going to take a nap.

 

The Pole Peddle Paddle is definitely a big deal in Bend. The race took up the first page of the sports section for three days in a row and claimed space on the Front Page the day after the race. There were also two news broadcasts in the evening.

http://www.ktvz.com/sports/31087040/detail.html

http://www.ktvz.com/news/31088492/detail.html

I enjoyed competing in the event. It took a lot of energy though, as preparation took three afternoons in a row. Andy Fectaue from Rebound physical therapy helped me practice using the equipment that he put together for me. He also shared the techniques he developed for fast transitions from his own racing days. I have recovered well and enjoyed mixing it up with my teammates in a skate sprint relay yesterday.

 

Olympic Processing was a little less chaotic than than my previous three Olympic experiences. Athletes used to be issued shopping carts and funneled down corridors where vendors threw clothes and gear at you. This time around the process was much more calm and there was ample time to actually try things on and make sure they fit. I got pictures of myself in my opening and closing ceremony gear. A few alterations were made later.  One of which was to remove the tag covering part of my face.

 

 

I have now been in the Olympic Village for two nights and everything is going smoothly.  There is a good variety of quality food available at the dining hall and I have had no glucose issues.

I did a set of light intervals this morning and felt good doing them.  The weather and conditions have been perfect and I hope they hold.  Much has been made about how hilly the courses are and how difficult they will be to race on.  However from my experience courses are only as hard as the pace you are skiing.  Sometimes the pace feels easy and sometimes it is unattainable.  On the days when the pace feels calm the course seems to flatten out (although Ida’s GPS said she hit 45mph on the one descent today).

Today was supposed to be an easy off day for Hoff and I. However there is a severe lack of stimuli in our isolated lodge, so we convinced each other that going for a crust cruise was a good idea. We headed out to climb the mountain that dominates our view every morning at breakfast.

starting the ascent

continuing the climb

still going up

Hoff on top

Sketchy traverse

The roundtrip crust cruise took a little over two hours. It was the most scenic ski I have been on in years and we only got lost once.

Yesterday I raced a 15k classic in Lillehammer Norway. I had high hopes for the race as the event and this particular course played to my strengths. I made a poor choice on skis though. I went on a pair that has always been extremely easy to kick on because of its uniquely low pocket. I underestimated the abrasiveness of the fresh snow however and I lost all of my kick wax but a trace amount of binder. The skis literally needed nothing more than a spritz of wax remover and a wipe with a paper towel and they were clean. Its hard to believe that I still make such rookie mistakes at this stage in the game.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to change my insulin dosing strategy as the one I had been relying on for 15ks for several years was now driving me too low while I raced. The old dose was a several unit bolus taken as a half hour extended bolus thirty minutes before race time. The new dose is a 50% increase to my basal insulin one and a half hours prior to the race. Using this strategy my glucose was 130 before yesterday’s race and 160 at the finish. The sugar was perfect but the race was compromised by poor skis so I do not consider it a good test of the theory.
My focus of the year is on the 15k classic at the Olympics. If I continued on the original racing plan of following the world cup to Davos and then returning home for Nationals I would only have two 15k races between now and the Olympics. Since I was blindsided with insulin dose problems I have decided to abandon the World Cup next weekend and race two Europa cups in Austria instead. There is a 10k skate on Saturday and a 15k classic mass start on Sunday. Making this Change has been pretty last minute and a bit stressful but the logistics are taken care of now and I feel good about giving myself two good practice races to get myself and my season on track.

Lap 1 split 1st, lap 2 split 1st, lap 3 split 14th = 3rd place at US National 15k classic.

I have started a new webpage and I promise to update it at least once a week. I had a slow start to the season this past weekend. This coming week I will be consulting with my doctor and coaches about how to adjust for the rest of the season. I am leaning towards a very different insulin dosing strategy for 15k races. I will write more on the new protocol as it develops.
For now, a huge congratulations to my training parter Noah Hoffman on winning the pursuit split in today’s World Cup!

 

Classic Sprint Semi-Final in Canmore October 24th

I spent the last two weeks of October training in Canmore Alberta on the Frozen Thunder ski track. The early season training was great and I raced twice in the pre-season competitions there. I placed 4th in the sprint and 2nd in the distance freestyle race. I was happy with my pre-season form but with nearly a month between the last race and the first SuperTour event in West Yellowstone, I needed to make another race effort to stay sharp.

When I am home, the most reliable way to get pushed hard in intensity is to run head to head with my brother. I missed the annual Dartmouth Moosilaukee time trial this year so I decided to race it with my brother on our own.

Justin was a two time all american xc runner in college, Has won the last 3 Coosman Cups (fastest NH finisher) at the MT Washington Road Race, and won the overall New England Grand Prix running series two years ago. He also just set a new 10k PR of 31:18 less than a month ago. He has trounced me in every running intensity workout I have done with him this year and I have not managed to beat hime in a running race since I won the Coosman Cup in 2010.

On Sunday November 16th at 9:15 AM we started head to head at the famous crab apple tree starting line. I had never done this time trial this late in the year and for good reason. Winter starts earlier at higher elevation and there was an inch of snow on the ground. The inch grew to about 4 inch by the top and snow drifts near the summit were over a foot deep. There were icy patches near streams and bridges that required more caution then I prefer to use when racing but Justin and I have been running on slippery terrain like this since we could walk so the conditions did not worry us.

I took the lead from the start and only 4 minutes into the race I felt a little space forming between my brother and I. I was clearly stronger on the steep uneven terrain. However, after seven minutes of steep climbing the terrain flattened out and Justin closed the gap I had created. Eight minutes later we came to another steep section and I surged to see if I could break Justin. I pulled away quickly and had a 20 second lead at the half way point. But then then terrain leveled out again and Justin halved my lead. There was going to be no easy victory.

The snow got deeper the higher we went but it was never substantial enough to even out the rocky terrain, it just made it more slippery. I focused on my footing and finding a sustainable pace. I had loaded my legs with lactate more than I wanted to the second time I pulled away from Justin. He was only 10 seconds behind now but I allowed myself to slow a little bit because I would not have been able to sustain the current effort for another 15 minutes.

The relentless trail became steep again and despite having to re-adjust my pace my 10 second lead grew to 20 and then thanks to the switchbacks I broke the line of sight between Justin and I. There was about eight minutes left and my legs were getting unstable. I slipped on a rock staircase and fell. A few minutes later the trail flattens for about a quarter mile before a short steep rise to the summit. I tripped and face planted again on the fast section before post holing through snowdrifts to the summit. I leaned against a rock at the summit gasping for air in a foggy cloud. 32 seconds later Justin arrived.

My time was 37:57 which is far from my best, but given the conditions and the fact that it was the first time I had beaten Justin on foot in 4 years I was happy with the effort. The time was also 21 seconds faster than the winner from this year’s Dartmouth time trial.

The worst part of the moosilaukee race is always getting back down. I had over heated on the way up and threw my headband off and my tights and shirt were soaked with sweat. Needless to say Justin and I had a brisk jog back to our cars. I took the opportunity to gloat which is a time honored Freeman brothers tradition. Justin did not like losing and figured the best defense would be to belittle himself in order to make my win look less impressive. He pointed out that he was a nearly 38 year old full-time teacher with two kids and that he had been retired from pro skiing for eight years. I pointed out that he was also a loser.

Before driving home in separate cars, Justin admitted that he had run well and was still in good shape. Justin may consider himself washed up, but he is still the fastest runner in NH and hopefully being able to beat hime on foot will transfer to the ski trails later this month.