Time Management
forthcoming
How many of you can say that you have had a Brontosaurus burger in Dinosaur, Colorado?
Ask any parent whose child ski races and they will tell you the life of a ski racer consists of much travel. We travel to races and we travel to where the training conditions are good. Below is a brief recounting of recent travels.
Slater and I drove approximately 14 hours from Sun Valley, Idaho to Kimberley, British Columbia on Feb 7 for two downhill and two Super-G races. We skied well and beat all the other racers, not just those in my category. Upon returning to Sun Valley following several close run-ins with deer and fallen rocks, we promptly purchased new high and low beam headlights and supplemental off-road “dayligher” lights.
From Sun Valley we drove to Park City on February 16 to ski on “injected snow” for two days. Injected snow has been infused with water so that the snow can turn to ice during cold night temperatures. I wanted to get a few days experience on the injected snow in case the injected snow at Whistler is similar. Unfortunately, it was too warm and there was too much new snow in Park City for us to get good training.
Our next destination was Aspen and we departed Park City on Thursday, Feb 18 and drove back road highways 189, 40 and 13 through Utah and Colorado. We whisked past Strawberry, Utah and avoided blinking in Duchesne, Roosevelt and Vernal, Utah. We stopped for a meal in Dinosaur, Co. and doubled the town’s winter population. Dinosaur is a summer tourist town for people interested in the undeveloped West and dinosaur excavations. I did quite enjoy my brontosaurus burger. There is no shortage of beautiful and undeveloped land between Park City and Glenwood Springs, CO.
We raced Super-G on Friday, Feb 19 on Buttermilk and were supposed to race a downhill on Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately for us but fortunately for Aspen, the Rockies received 18” of new snow over two days and this caused the cancellation of our races. Neither Slater nor I had ever skied in Aspen so we had a blast exploring Aspen and Aspen Highlands.
We drove approximately two hours to Vail on Monday, Feb 22 for a four day training camp with the US Ski Team. You can see some of our training videos on the home page.
We returned to Aspen on Feb 28 for two days of downhill training, two days of DH racing and two days of Super-G. Slater and I finished second in the two downhills and one of the Super-Gs. We did not ski well in the last race and I we finished in the middle of the pack.
On March 6 we drive to Denver for "Paralympic processing" where we receive our Paralympic clothing and receive a briefing on the Paralympic village and Paralympic rules. We fly to Vancouver and drive to Whistler on March 7.Impoverished ski bum or leading the life style of the rich and famous?
I can tell you with great assurance that being a ski bum at 51 is much more comfortable and luxurious than being a ski bum at 21.
I have been very blessed with remarkably friends and family and these friends have all been enormously generous with their homes and vacation homes. Many thanks do Scot, Roy and Marge, and Donn for generously permitting to stay in your homes.
Photos forthcoming
I’m not half the man Klev is…
One of my best friends reached the summit of Everest the year all the climbers died as documented in the book Into Thin Air. Everyday for a year Klev received calls from ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN, MSNBC. And Klev refused every interview request. I, on the other hand, have received two interview requests and have granted both. I don’t watch reality TV but apparently I’m just as guilty as any Survivor participant of pursuing 15 minutes of fame. Here are links to the two articles: http://www.magicvalley.com/news/article_101e4413-3371-536c-a253-e486200173e8.html and http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/feb/24/reliving-his-ridge-days-visually-impaired-skier/.
Roy Hobbs
So you may be asking, “Mark, you’re over the hill, you admit you’re not exactly in prime condition, your competitors are half your age and you claim ski racers are great athletes. If all this is true, why the hell are you strapping on your skis and squeezing into an unflattering speed suit?”
Yes, it’s true that, like Roy Hobbs in The Natural, I am far past my prime and should not be competitive (I think my coaches reacted similarly to coach Pop Fisher when I first arrived, “why is this old guy here?”). Like Hobbs, I’ve been away from the sport for a long time. He returned after 16 years, I returned after 34 years. Hopefully, like Hobbs, I’ll reach the pinnacle of the sport a love.
Logic would say that I have no chance of winning a gold medal or of being the best in the world. On paper, I should not be able to compete because the other racers are less than half my age, are more fit, have been skiing with their guides anywhere from 3 to 10 years, are more adept at the modern racing turn than I am and have the ability to pursue the sport full-time and year-round. So why am I investing all this time and money to compete?
Because I can win. Because I can be competitive in all events with some serious training.
Am I delusional? Blind to the facts?
Of course not. It’s just that I’m one of the most exceptionally gifted athletes in the world. And I can elaborate on that as soon as I finish my beer and pizza.
Kidding aside, I am closing the gap on my competitors because I am relatively rapidly learning the new technique and I am quickly learning to properly use my guide. And hopefully my fitness will continue to improve.
Working in my favor are my years as a junior racer. From junior racing I intuitively know how to ski fast. I know how to ride a clean ski and know how to correct major and minor mistakes while sacrificing the minimum amount of time and speed. I know where to not make an error on a course. A racer makes numerous errors in every run. Fortunately, I may be more adept at minimizing the impact of these errors.
From years of skiing in Cascade fog, I am better able to handle uneven terrain; to ski over dips, bumps, rolls, holes and compressions without getting thrown as much as my competitors.
Additionally, even though I am past my testosterone laden prime, and even though it may not look like it on the video, I can still throw myself at a course with complete aggression and reckless abandon.
I am also receiving a huge benefit in that our (disabled) race courses are kept a little shorter than the able bodied courses. Our courses are also set where the world cup women race. This makes the courses a little easier and is done because longer courses are too physically demanding on the single leg skiers.
Fit at 50?
Nope. But I need to be. All but a few of my competitors are less than half my age and they dedicate much of their lives to ski racing. And ski racing is a very physical sport in which all racers finish the course in a deep anaerobic state. At age 51, I'm pretty much in a heavy anaerobic state and wheezing napalm by the time I finish poling out of the start.
My friends are fit as they approach 50 but I have not allocated sufficient time to fitness training the past several years. Unfortunately, work, remodeling neglected foreclosed homes and managing these properties when they would not sell has caused me to forego sleep, a regular exercise regimen (or as racers call it, dry land training) and a personal life. I am, therefore, trying to rapidly improve my conditioning in January and February through on snow training. Though we don’t take that many runs each day, I am always the last to leave the hill and always take a few extra runs for conditioning.
To provide an idea of a ski racer’s fitness level and training, here is a video showing some of Ted Ligety’s (one of the two best American male ski racers) summer training: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEghWeUdOIs.
Ski Racers: Athletes or Posers?
Can ski racers truly be elite athletes if a 51 year old might be competitive?
Given that ski racing is not a popular sport in the United States, I feel compelled to volunteer that ski racers are superlative athletes. As one point of evidence, I offer that Bode Miller from the U.S. Ski Team and extreme skier, half-pipe competitor Kristi Leskinen were two of the final three athletes on the Superstars TV show this past summer. I didn’t see the show so I don’t know who won and I can’t comment if Bode and Kristi were truly the best all round athletes. Have heard that Bode Miller won a similar competition several years ago.
Ski racers – like most athletes – must have very significant core and leg strength. Ski racing is a remarkably physical sport and, in many ways, is like being a linebacker that uses agility to dodge tacklers (gates) and uses raw aggression to attack the ball carrier (race course). A 60 second, 60 gate slalom course is extremely anaerobic because you effectively throw 60 punches and do 60 full exertion squats. A two minute downhill or Super-G will have turns with G-forces that max out your leg strength and that cause your legs to burn as you cross the finish.
Unlike most other sports, ski racing requires significant resistance strength. A racer can generate substantial G-forces when carving a turn at 35 mph in GS, 55 mph in Super-G and at 75 mph in downhill. A racer must not only be sufficiently strong to maintain body position while resisting G-forces, we must also be strong enough to resists these forces while absorbing all the bumps and ripples in the course. And even more strength is required to make recoveries when out of position or offline.
Adaptive ski racers must be very fit. If you are a skier, think about how long you ski and how many turns you take before resting. Now imagine skiing your normal distance and duration on one leg. Imagine doing this on one leg for 90 seconds at full speed. One of the US Adaptive Team members can leg press 600 pounds on a single leg.
Mt. Hood – North America’s Premier Summer Training Center
Mt. Hood is an inactive volcano in the Cascade Mountain range and is approximatley 11,000’ tall. Mt. Hood receives 900 inches of snowfall each year and almost all of this snow melts during the summer so that we are training on a permanent snowfield by late August.
Mt. Hood is a one hour drive from Portland and a four hour drive from Seattle. It is only 40 miles from Hood to the Columbia River which means Mt. Hood effectively rises from near sea level to 11,000’ in a short 40 miles. The drive from Mt. Hood to the Columbia River is one of the most scenic drives in the country.
The summer race training season begins in early June when as many as 35 camps can be conducted simultaneously. During the early season when there is still plenty of snow, there are four training areas: the Palmer snowfield at 8,420’, west Palmer, lower Palmer at 6,000’ and the magic mile chair at 3,000’ elevation. The Palmer snowfield supports up to 16 training lanes (i.e. race courses), west Palmer supports up to 6 lanes, lower Palmer supports up to 8 lanes and the magic mile supports 5 lanes.
Mt. Hood is a wonderful place to spend summer weekends. It is very rustic, undeveloped and ruggedly beautiful. It is invigorating to be surrounded by hundreds of young, skilled, enthusiastic and dedicated ski racers. These teens and pre-teens are all extremely well behaved, are very respectful to their coaches and are friendly to their fellow racers. And almost all of these kids are remarkably skilled racers. It is inspiring to watch the power, agility and grace of these young racers.
By season end, hundreds of inches of snow have melted and training can only be conducted on the permanent Palmer snowfield. By roughly early July there is too little snow to train on the Magic Mile and by the end of July or early August there is too little snow to train on lower Palmer. The snowfield can be seen in the photo below.
Though I trained at Mt. Hood during the 1970s, this is the first time I have skied every weekend throughout an entire summer and this summer was, therefore, the first time I have witnessed the snow melt process. A remarkable transformation can be observed each week.
Photos
Summer Ski Race Training at Mt. Hood
I did zero race training during the 2008/2009 ski season due to my work and racing schedule and because I live in Seattle and my guides live in Durango and Sun Valley. The only skiing I did last season was in actual races and that is not the ideal way to achieve peak performance. My lack of training was evident when I competed against the best visually impaired racers at the Whistler World Cup in March. It was evident in all events other than the downhill that I am not nearly as proficient as my competitors at following a guide. I also am not as adept at the new ski racing technique. Needing to improve my technique and guide following skills, I set out to maximize my time on snow and in gates this summer at Mt. Hood, Oregon.
The United States Adaptive Ski Team held a speed camp during the last two weeks of June and a technical camp during the last two weeks of July. I was intending to attend half to two-thirds of these two-week camps but I was unable to take the time off work. I, therefore, skied almost every weekend this summer to maximize my training time.
In order to ski every weekend, I attended three different camps: the US Adaptive Team camp, the National Alpine Ski Camp (NASC) and the Tichy Racing camp. Thank you to Ray Watkins of the USAST, Brad Alire of NASC and the Tichy family for permitting me to train with your fantastic programs.
A typical Friday consisted of departing the office behind schedule, irrespective of the schedule. Owing to heavy rush-hour and weekend traffic, I would typically reach the Portland airport around 10 PM. After checking in and moving ski bags, gear bags, clothing bags and boot bags to the hotel and getting a light snack, I would typically get to bed around 11:30 pm to midnight. I would arise at 5:00 or 5:30 in an attempt to get to Timberline Lodge by 7 am.
Following Saturday morning training, we would typically watch video and do a little dry land training. I would then drive to the Jarvis home in Rowena on the Columbia River. While my training colleagues were sharing houses or staying in campers, I was roughing it at a fantastically beautiful vacation home.
The worst commute was the weekend when I did not depart Seattle until 10 pm. I tried to make it to a hotel about two hours from the mountain but I became too fatigued at approximately 12:15 am. I, therefore, head-bobbed my way into a rest area where, in the tradition of a ski bums around the country, I slept in the cab of my 1987 Jeep Comanche pick up truck. It was an exceptionally hot summer in the northwest and my pickup does not have air conditioning so I was dehydrated and coated in dried perspiration.
While fitfully sleeping I experienced periodic leg cramps because one leg was bent against the steering wheel and the other was bent against the seatback. It’s a no-win situation when you sit up to straighten a cramping quad or hamstring and the act of sitting up causes a groin muscle cramp.
By 5:00 am I was sticky, sweaty and stiff with muscle spasms so I hit the road. McDonald's in Gresham, Oregon was my first stop where I took a paper towel shower and changed into ski clothes. I departed for Hood with coffee and 6 bottles of water.
Despite the travel travails, I had a very good day and weekend of training. The trip home was no better because it was during the great northwest heat wave where we hit 103 degrees and the cab of my car reached 114 on a thermometer.
Why I'm qualified for the Paralympics
One in four thousand people inherit or otherwise become afflicted with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). I was diagnosed with RP in 1986 and have had all the traditional symptoms since childhood. Below is info on Retinitis Pigmenta from the Foundation Fighting Blindness (www.blindness.org).
What is retinitis pigmentosa?
Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) refers to a group of inherited diseases causing retinal degeneration. The cell-rich retina lines the back inside wall of the eye. It is responsible for capturing images from the visual field. People with RP experience a gradual decline in their vision because photoreceptor cells (rods and cones) die. Forms of RP and related diseases include Usher syndrome, Leber’s congenital amaurosis, rod-cone disease, Bardet-Biedl syndrome, and Refsum disease, among others.
Normal vision
As seen by a person with retinitis pigmentosa
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms depend on whether rods or cones are initially involved. In most forms of RP, rods are affected first. Because rods are concentrated in the outer portions of the retina and are triggered by dim light, their degeneration affects peripheral and night vision. When the more centrally located cones - responsible for color and sharp central vision - become involved, the loss is in color perception and central vision.
Night blindness is one of the earliest and most frequent symptoms of RP. People with mainly cone degeneration, however, first experience decreased central vision and ability to discriminate color.
RP is typically diagnosed in adolescents and young adults. It is a progressive disorder. The rate of progression and degree of visual loss varies from person to person. Most people with RP are legally blind by age 40, with a central visual field of less than 20 degrees in diameter. It is a genetic disorder and, therefore, is almost always inherited.
How is RP inherited?
An estimated 100,000 people in the U.S. have RP, mainly caused by mutated genes inherited from one or both parents. Mutated genes give the wrong instructions to photoreceptor cells, telling them to make an incorrect protein, or too little or too much protein. (Cells need the proper amount of particular proteins in order to function properly.) Many different gene mutations exist in RP. In Usher syndrome, for example, at least 14 disease-causing genes have been identified.
Genetic mutations can be passed from parent to offspring through one of three genetic inheritance patterns - autosomal recessive, autosomal dominant, or X-linked. In autosomal recessive RP, parents who carry the gene but have no symptoms themselves could have some children who are affected and others who are not. Similarly, in autosomal dominant RP, an affected parent could have affected and unaffected children. In families with X-linked RP, only males are affected; females carry the genetic trait but do not experience serious vision loss.
If a family member is diagnosed with RP, it is strongly advised that other members of the family also have an eye exam by a physician who is specially trained to detect and treat retinal degenerative disorders. Discussing inheritance patterns and family planning with a genetic counselor can also be useful.
What treatments are available?
The Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) has funded many important RP research and clinical advances. A nutritional therapy using vitamin A and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) has emerged as an effective treatment for many patients; gene therapies are progressing through preclinical trials; technologies for delivering therapeutic agents to rod and cone cells are being studied in Phase II/lll clinical studies; an implantable microchip to enhance retinal function is under development.
Although not a treatment for RP, it is also important to know that low vision aids are useful for maintaining independence. Low vision specialists can make personalized recommendations for mechanical, optical, electronic, and computer-based low vision products.
What testing is available?
Genetic testing is available for RP. It helps assess the risk of passing the disorder from parent to offspring. It also helps with attaining an accurate diagnosis. A patient with an accurate diagnosis is in a better position to keep track of new findings, research developments, and treatment approaches. However, not all RP-causing genes have been discovered. If a person chooses to get genetically tested, there is about a 50 percent chance that their disease-causing gene will be identified.
Are there any other related diseases?
Other inherited diseases share some of the clinical symptoms of RP. The most common is Usher syndrome, where hearing and vision are both affected. Other related syndromes being studied through FFB funding include Best disease, choroideremia, gyrate-atrophy, and Stargardt disease.