Au Revoir and Merci Beaucoup

We have all experienced times when, instead of being buffeted by anonymous forces, we do feel in control of our actions, masters of our own fate. On the rare occasions that it happens, we feel a sense of exhilaration, a deep sense of enjoyment that is long cherished and that becomes a landmark in memory for what life should be like….. moments like these are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times…the best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Such experiences are not are not necessarily pleasant at the time they occur, yet these could have been the best moments of life.
-Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi

This is the final installment of my In The Arena blog. It has been an incredible experience and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to serve a greater good while pursuing my athletic goals. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

As I type, I am in the midst of packing up my life in Park City in order to move it out to San Francisco. I will begin working towards a MFA this coming fall at the Academy of Art University and joining my girlfriend, Crystal, in the bay area. At the moment I have no plans to continue competing, though I wouldn't be surprised to find myself pinning a number on before the year's end in any multitude of sports.

I really just want to thank Amory Rowe, the In The Arena board members, donors and supporters of the organization, as well as Jeff Schwalbe and Ecker Hill Middle School.

I look forward to seeing you all again soon. If you need to track me down in the future, you can find me at simons(dot)zack(at)gmail(dot)com.

May 23

I just arrived to ecker hill middle school this morning to 3 inches if
snow on the ground... On may 23!

The kids are getting used to the drill but that does t mean they are
excited about it. We are in the middle
of a track and field segment and that means we'll be runnin the
hurdles inside today. Wedenes day is the mile run, hopefully the
weather clears up or that means a lot of laps in the gym!

In other news, I have decided to call it a career. The time has come
for me to move forward and I can't wait. I will be joining my
girlfriend Crystal in Berkeley, CA and am
planning to begin grad school in September.

Sprinter.

I am back in Utah after a wonderful month in California. The day before I left California I sat by a lake with my dog and Crystal under warm skies and 80 degree temperatures. Pretty much the ideal weather for this time of year... The day after I arrived home to Utah I woke up to snow blowing against my windows...

I had travelled from Spring and back to Sprinter, the dreaded Utah shoulder season.

Utah is notorious for fooling its inhabitants into thinking that summer is nearby with temperatures reaching the high 70's and slapping them back to reality with 12 inches of snow the next day.

That is exactly what is going on here right now. its not really spring and its not really winter. its sprinter... and its terrible.

this weekend was the utah state crit championship, held on a day that could have been mid june. and tomorrow it will snow...

and for those of us who want to ride fast this summer, we will be out riding in the snow in Mid May.

California might have been a better choice for spring time cycling. I miss those rolling green hills already.

Rolling.

I've relocated to Berkeley, CA for the month of April. I'm here riding
my bike, making up for lost time with my special ladyfriend and
getting some work done away from the snowy mountains of Park City.
There are some great roads to ride in the East Bay area....

Bump in the road...

I've had a great week here in the Engadin valley of Switzerland. The
weather has been fantasic, the company is always great and the valley
is gorgeous as ever.

I've been feeling great since the week of the Birkie. After some bad
luck that kept me from completing the race and grabbing the kind of
result I know I was capable of that day, I have been anxious to have
another shot.

Well my shot was coming at one of the most competitive races in the
world , unfortunately I woke up the morning k the race as sick as a
dog. I could hardly breathe, my sinuses ached and my throat was raw.

An unfortunate turn of events. I do feel fortunate however that this
is the first time I've been sick in Europe and also the first time in
almost a decade that I have been sick twice in the same season.

Just a bump in the road... And I can feel the motivation building for
the coming season. I'm hungry for more race wins and I feel like I
have something prove.

I can't wait to prove it.

Birkie 2010

This year's Birkie started out great. I had fantastic skis and my body
was all there. It could not have been better. I felt like I was
stalking the pack rather than skiing in it, always a great sign.
Unfortunately that ended when I got dragged to the ground by someone
behind me. One of my poles snapped and my ski split in two. I got up
and limped along hoping to get some new gear but the thrill of the
hunt faded after 10 km on broken equipment. I hopped a ride to the
finish at the 30km mark and was able to see my Steinbock teammate grab
third place!

Such is sport. Live to fight another day. I'm off to the Engadin
Marathon on Friday for another stab at the world's largest skate race!

Fight For it. BMT Victory 2010.

As I wrote in my last post, one of my favorite things about racing are the last kilometers... I love to be right in the thick of it, fighting for position– banging elbows. The more of a dog fight the race becomes, the more I enjoy what I'm doing.

If you don't believe me, here is proof... A photo from the Boulder Mt Tour, taken within a Km of the finish.

Having the time of my life - 2010 Boulder Mt Tour (photo by Mike Turzian)

What is missing from this photo is AJ. He is just out of the frame, leading me out as he did for several Km's before this picture was taken. He hit it as hard as he could to keep the pace high and get me to the finish lanes in the front of the pack. And as with any good lead out, he practically keeled over when the dash for the finish began– though he did hold on for a solid 5th place.

But thats not the point, the point is that we raced as a team and won as a team. And there is a lot to be said about that...

-ZSi

Governor's Cup Weekend

I just got home from a quick weekend trip to Winter Park, CO, for a 30km Skate race called the Governors Cup, held at Devils Thumb Resort.

It was a good trip overall. I stayed at the Beaver Village Hotel with former teammate and now coach of Denver University, Dave Stewart. The skiing was awesome over there, as always. It seems that every time I ski at Devils Thumb, its perfect. Blue ski, tons of trails, great grooming... this time around was no different.

It was a pretty typical race weekend for me. I arrived Thursday night and went for a short run. On Friday I tested my skis and waxed them for the race. Saturday, race.

The race went OK, though certainly not my best ever performance. Glenn Randall, NCAA Champ, was on hand. Glenn has been known to ski quite well at altitude, likely because he trains at 10,000ft! When we started, he was content to lead. He pushed the pace early and near the 5k mark, I was starting to feel it. One thing I know about racing near 9000ft is that you don't want to go under early. So I backed off, hoping to ski the fastest race I could and catch him if he blew up late in the race...

Well, when we came through the lap at 15k, he was no where in sight and I didn't have it to speed up. Looking around, I saw former teammate - now sponsor - Natron a bit behind me and I slowed up hoping to pull him a bit. It worked but he couldn't quite hang on at the end of the lap and was beaten by another well known Coloradan, Michael Brothers. I cruised in to 2nd.

Natron and I both have experience cycling and it seems everytime we race together, we find ways to bring new tactics into skiing. I enjoy that.

It was a bit of a strange day for me. I didn't feel much snap in my body and had a tough time really putting it down when I needed to. In the past week I did some really big workouts to prepare for these upcoming marathons and I think I was just a bit behind the eight ball for this race... I think the training was good, it was the recovery that wasn't happening... Anyone can train hard, the key is recovering from it quickly...

I have another 30k coming up next weekend in Idaho, the famed Boulder Mtn Tour, where I will be defending my title...

I intent to do a lot of resting this week to create some speed. I know my fitness is there, I just need to get it out from under the training load I've been piling on!

Waiting and Working and Training....

Well this is a first for me... It mid-January and my race season is about to start in earnest. Typically, this time of year I am in a mid season training block, scrambling to recover from the many early season races that populate the North American race schedule and simultaneously trying to get in some long workouts that will allow me to race 50kms weekend after weekend.

This year has been a bit different as funds have been tight in the ski world and upon the conclusion that I was to have no mathematical chance at making the 2010 Olympic Team. I have focused heavily on marathons this season and soon I will find out whether my plan has paid off.

These past weeks have been tough in many respects. Many of my friends are preparing for World Cups and waiting to hear about Olympic selection. At times I really wish I was in their camp. But I've gone a different route and I feel confident in my decision. Especially after many long hours on the bike this summer, I feel well prepared for the long events ahead.

Additionally, I've had a heavy load on my back in preparation for the upcoming Outdoor Retailer Show, here in Utah. I will be on hand to help out my ski sponsor, Rossignol, as well as to promote my own team, Steinbock Racing. In the past four days I put in something like 50 hours redesigning our Program Overview.... I'm an all or nothing kind of guy and this was definitely an "all" situation. I'm excited to present it later this week.

This coming Saturday I will race the University of Utah Invitational, at Soldier Hollow, which will be my last tune up before I head out to some bigger events... The following weekend I will be in Winter Park, CO, for the Governor's Cup– which from what I understand is the longest running ski race in Colorado. After that I head up to Sun Valley to defend my Boulder Mountain Tour title. The following weekend is a 10km classic race and the Owl Creek Chase in Aspen, CO. The weekend after that is the Minnesota Finlandia, a 50k, on Saturday and a sprint race in Madison, WI, on Sunday... And the weekend after that is the American Birkebeiner. The next two weeks are up in the air, I may head over to do the Engadin Marathon again or maybe ski the Yellowstone Rendezvous. The week after the Rendezvous is the Great Race in Truckee, California.

And this is where things get blurry.... After the Great Race I may head to the coast (of California) to ride my bike for a few days and hit the San Dimas Stage Race. That would be abruptly followed by the Califonia Gold Rush, another ski race... And then back to the coast for some more riding and likely the Redlands Classic and Sea Otter Road Races...

And then likely back to Park City for May and June to finish out the school year with my crew at Ecker Hill Middle School.

I can't wait for the races to start. I love to be in the mix– banging elbows, as they say– and fighting for position in the last kilometers of a race.

I'll be sure to keep you posted on how things unfold...

Some biking, some skiing, lots of training.

The last few weeks have flown by here in Park City. I accomplished some great workouts, a lot of extracurriculars and survived the holidays.

Yesterday I skied another race here in Park City. It was a good one, on my home course - an extremely flat 5km, that I have been around several thousand times, literally. There were a few more fast skiers around than usual, my brother is in town and he is a Biathlete with the US Devo Team, as well as a couple of guys from the US Nordic Combined team and several from the University of Utah.

When I was warming up for the race my pole started to make a funny crackling sound. It was coming from the grip and when I checked to see if my pole was still glued on, it was not. It was spinning loosely in the handle. I hoped it wouldn't be an issue but the first pole plant of the race, my pole came off. I had to wait for the 50 or so skiers in the front wave to pass before I could see my pole, javelined into the snow. I grabbed it and jammed it back into my grip and got going again... I had to ski through all those people to get back into the front group. It took me 2k or so to get back up there. When I caught up, I was already going pretty hard so I figured I'd just keep the pressure on. I blew the front group up pretty quickly and it was down to three of us with my brother dangling a bit off the back. I slowed up a bit to give him a chance to get back on. I skied most the rest of the race with the Nordic Combined guys, who were going really well. I felt super comfortable and was looking for the best place to make some sort of move that would stick. I waited for my standard spot - a long gradual hill with essentially no recovery afterwards. I put the hammer down and left them, taking the win by a good 20 or 30 seconds in the last 2k.

It was a solid effort considering this week has been fairly unusual in terms of a lead up to competition. This is what my week looked like:

Mon: 4x10 min L3 w Bill Demong pm: 3x15min @ tempo on a trainer
Tue: 2.5 hr Classic pm: 1.25 hrs riding on rollers
Wed: 2.5 hrs on a trainer w 3x20 @ tempo pm: 1.5 hr skate
Thur: Ramp test, cycling followed by 2hrs of skating
Fri: 2 hrs skating w 3x3 min L3 pm: .75 hrs on rollers
Sat: Race 15k skate

Cycling has not hurt my fitness, though hard cycling workouts make my legs feel sluggish for ski races. As bigger ski races approach, I won't be able to do these types of workouts in the days before. Skiing is good for skiing and biking is good for biking...

The next couple weeks are a bit more of the same. Lots of training. My first big race will around the 25th of this month in Marquette, MI. The Noquemanon Marathon, a 50km classic race. I'm looking forward to that.

Happy Holidays!

One Race Down.

This weekend was a good one. I finally put a bib on and got back to racing... And like most races, it was a lot of fun.

The race wasn't exactly a world cup but my teammate, Andrew Johnson, and I lined up and threw down for 10km at Soldier Hollow, the 2002 Olympic venue. The race series is called the Wasatch Citizen Series. It's always fun to come back and do a WCS race because its where I learned to race. My first ski race of all time was a WCS race. The local crowds are great and its always fun to ski with the people who I grew up idolizing.

The race itself was a lot of fun. I love mass start races of any kind and this was no different. From the start, AJ and I put the hammer down and were out on our own in a big hurry. We battled it out, though he led for the majority of the race. I skied behind him and like a rookie, skied all over the back of his skis. It was the first time I've classic skied with anyone this year and my timing and spacing were a bit off, but that's what early races are for. Towards the end of the race I started to think about how to try beat him. I figured he was looking for a late move so I decided to try to go a little before he would expect it. I dropped the hammer and got a little separation but it didn't last for too long before he was back on my heels. He nabbed me around the last corner and beat me to the line. It was a blast.

After the race we hung around for awards and talked it up with the local ski community. I spent some time talking with some of the young guns from the area about their plans and how things are going. I would love to see some more kids come out of this area and make it to the top.

After the awards I drove home and grabbed a couple hours of rest before getting on my bike in the garage for a 2x25 min interval workout at a tempo pace. Right now I am doing double duty as a cyclist and ski racer. And while the two sports are very different, the basic principles of training are similar. And the tools needed for success are exactly the same: namely, an extreme level of fitness.

I know that I need to get in two intensity sessions (intervals, races, etc) on skis and two on my bike per week in order to continue to improve in both sports. I also know that four days of intervals is too many. So I'm doing back-to-back interval days- that is two interval sessions in one day for two different sports. That way I have good periodization within weeks, hard days and easy days, as well as within 4 week blocks. Its not exactly a text book training plan but I'm not sure one even exists for a dual-sport athlete. I'm making it up as I go and that's exciting.

I will be around Park City for the holidays, training a ton in preparation for next month's races. The season hits hard come mid-January.

Below are some pictures from yesterday's race, taken by Ian Harvey of Toko. I am #331.

First time on snow. High Volume. and Readjusting.

I have arrived in West Yellowstone and so has winter. I have been out skiing one time so far and the conditions were excellent for how little snow there is here. It is always so nice to get on snow again after the summer. Rollerskiing just can't compare to the real thing.

Today I was out for 3.5 hours of skating. I felt pretty good though my skis felt a bit long as always. I am still dealing with a pretty jacked up foot, after twisting my ankle last week while running. I feel as though time is starting to catch up with me as well, and by time I mean age, as my elbows got a bit sore from the different impulse of snow as opposed to asphalt. These minor ailments seem to be happening with greater frequency lately and I can't help but think it has something to do with the fact that I'm not 20 anymore. But I'm not 30 either, so I am confident that neither issue will hold me back from having a good week.

With recent news of our Olympic quotas being cut back from 10 men in the past, to just 4 this year and tighter than usual budget constraints thanks to the general state of the economy, I have had to readjust my goals for this season in order to give myself the greatest chance to come away with some measurable success. I entered this training year with the goal of making the Olympic team, everything else was secondary. Though given my luck last year with Giardia, I enter this year slightly behind points-wise and have had to come to grips with the fact that it is mathematically impossible for me to climb into the top 4 by the time the olympic selection happens. In the past I've been afforded the opportunity to travel to whereever i've seen fit. This season, funds have been clamped down and I have to pick and chose my way through the season in order to make it the whole year. After talking the situation over with teammates and sponsors, I have made the decision to aim for the races that I am best at - marathons. So while my peers here in Yellowstone are putting the final touches on their training before the first races, I am hitting the peak of my volume in order to come out of the New Year swinging in the long races.

Such is life. Especially life as an athlete. Goals are set and some of those goals are achieved. We never really know which ones and that is the beauty of competition. Some times goals are not reached and its importat to readjust in accordance. And while I am a bit jealous of my friends here who are still within grasp of Vancouver 2010, I am confident that the route I am taking is the one that give me the best chance of walking away from this season as a success.

Good luck to everyone here in Yellowstone this week. See you out of the trails.

Here is a look at what this week will look like for me training -wise:

Sun: 3.5hr skate
Mon: 4 hr skate, 1 hr no poles
Tues: 3x20min L3 int, 2.5 total. pm: 1.5 hr
Wed: 4 hr classic
Thur: 2.5 skate/ 1.5 classic
Fri: 3.5 skate
Sat: 6x10 min L3, 2.5 hrs total. 1 hr classic
Sun: 3 hr skate, 1 hr ride on trainer

Winter In The Air

Its an exciting time of year. Transition is imminent as snow looms on the horizon, both figuratively and literally. The mountain tops are white here in Park City and it seems that, week after week, a new weather forecast promises snow. October snow in the mountains is a certainty, but there is a hardly a chance that it will stay for long. In November, all bets are off. The first day of winter can be any day.

I have been extremely busy lately between training, continuing to develop my new team, spending lots of time in the school before heading off to the West Yellowstone later this month, a few short trips to California to catch up with Crystal and the list goes on... But I am enjoying having plenty to do and I feel productive, which is huge for my general being.

Last week I got sidetracked a bit by a heavy dose of John Paul Sartre and Pink Floyd. I don't recommend the two together. The Dark Side of the Moon is dark and unless you feel the need for extreme introspection, steer clear. This week I'm pushing forward into a bit of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard but combating the effects with the ultra pop sounds of Julian Casablancas's new album.

Yesterday I had one of the best road rides of the entire summer. I was out for almost 6 hours and managed an extremely high level of energy the entire time. It was awesome, I was jamming. I really didn't want to stop but there wasn't any need to ride more. But I did lift some weights later in the evening just to keep the mojo rising. I'm not sure where this energy is coming from though I haven't been on my bike for almost a month now and it feels good to be back on two wheels. I might need to ride more.

School has been fun lately. Some classes are playing volleyball, some are ballroom dancing, some are learning about fitness training. I've been lending my expertise in the fitness training realm whenever possible. Trying to fit 30 kids with heart rate monitors is quite a task, I have enough trouble just trying to keep my own in working condition. On Friday I spent a good deal of time trying to relate the importance of staying within certain 'zones' while training and how each zone has a different effect. Later in the class we went out and ran 1.5 miles trying to stay within our aerobic zones. Some of the kids did great, others didn't get the memo and ran as fast as they could. Either way we were running, so it was a success. And pretty cool to see 12 year olds learning about heart rate based training.

I think Badminton is next for some classes, for others its swimming. I'm not sure what I have to offer to those sports but the message is usually the same - just try hard and have fun. That's what its all about anyways. And exactly what I'll be doing in the next few weeks.

Busy Week - 350.org Day of Action, Oct. 24

The last two weeks have been extremely busy but also very rewarding and overall could not have been more positive.

Last weekend I went out to Berkeley, CA, for a somewhat dual-purposed trip. The obvious purpose was to visit my girlfriend, Crystal, and catch up on time spent together. The less obvious purpose for the trip was to attend a Graduate Portfolio Day at San Francisco Institute of Art.

I was a little nervous for the Portfolio Review, as I had never attended a formal one of that nature. A Graduate Portfolio Day is a place where hundreds of potential grad students are able to meet with representatives from nearly all of the top art schools from all over the country, in order to have their work reviewed and find out whether or not they may be accepted to a program.

I approached it like I would a ski race, taking control over all aspects of the situation that I could. I dove right in. I had a list of schools that I wanted to talk to, all highly respected and thus very competitive. The first two reviews were extremely positive. My work was well received and a very thoughtful dialogue was had. The third review was also positive, though I was expected to be able to talk much more thoroughly than I did about where my work fell within a historical context. Lacking a formal art education, I fell a bit short, but was praised for my conceptual risk taking and ability to convey the thought process behind the work. It was actually very nice to hear some critical feedback at that point.

I left feeling very good about what I've created and trusting my own voice and aesthetic much more than I did before. All in all, it could not have been much better of an experience.

After returning from California, it was hammer time in preparation for a Rollerski Race that my team, Steinbock Racing, was holding in conjunction with the 350.org day of action, on October 24. There were a million things that needed to be prepared and in addition, we also had some deadlines in regard to our team, including a race suit design that managed to eat up close to 48 hours of my life.

The event was held yesterday and was very successful. We managed to get close to 50 people out to compete and another 30 or so out just to be in the 350.org group photo. It was great and all those involved felt like they were part of something much bigger than a simple rollerski race. It felt good to be proactive on a larger level.

In school, the kids have been up to all sorts of things. This past week the 7th graders did a project to build cooperative learning skills in which they ducttaped one of their classmates to the wall. The idea was for the kids to break into groups, make a strategy on how to go about the task, then share their ideas with other groups and learn from each other before actually trying to do it. (see the two posts below this one for photos). Some of the groups were very successful in planning and thus were able to get one of their classmates to stick to the wall. It was pretty cool.

When not duct taping each other to the wall, we have been rollerblading. I've been showing the kids how to skate effectively and also perfecting my own slapshot in roller hockey. We've been having a blast.

group photo from our rollerski race, 350.org day of action.

Step two

step two, the chair was pulled away and the truth was told... most groups didn't get anyone to stay up on the wall, but these guys did a great job of planning and executing.

Step one

Step one: the kids would plan, share, plan more and then one student would stand on a chair while the others would tape him/her to the wall...

First snow day= first day of swimming

I don't think we'll be on the ropes course today!