After having missed the last three editions for various reasons (Michigan Tech was hosting the US Cross Country Ski National Championships in 2023, and not enough snow in 2024 and 2025), I signed up not long after the registration opened up. For a vast majority of my cross country skiing Winters, SISU has served as the first of many mini family reunions. It has provided the first real race atmosphere to put to test newly acquired skills and take stock…
My performance in (or to be honest, lack thereof) in the 2025 Grandma’s highlighted the importance of consistency in training and its specificity to the target distance. The DNF in Duluth was a blessing in disguise … stepping off the course when I did had kept me from digging myself into too deep a hole, and in turn, had kept my train(ing) on track. Support – moral or otherwise – from friends in/around the endurance community and implementing few more…
Since my last personal best attempt (2023 Grandma’s) and the last completed one (2023 Marquette), I hadn’t necessarily enjoyed the luxury and the privilege of a race day performance representative of my training and progress and more importantly, of all the help I had received in making that progress. Training log indicated few more tweaks that could help me race this distance better. If implementing those tweaks over a meaningful period of time took me a few steps forward, a…
A review of my training journal leading up to and through the 2023 Marquette Marathon indicated that I had executed numerous aspects quite well. As is the case while pursuing anything that takes a lifetime of learning, it shed light on opportunities for refinement in several areas that were under my control. The combination of implementing some of those refinements (with help from mentors) made me better and stronger. Though I would have preferred to have at least one favorable…
To (continue to) say that the 2023-24 Winter has been subpar and has negatively impacted snow-dependent communities in the upper midwest continues to be an understatement. The Canadian Birkebeiner, the North End Classic, the Pre-Birkie and the Vasaloppet USA (all scheduled for two weeks before the American Birkebeiner) were cancelled within the last week … a result of the ongoing the El Niño Winter and the accompanying low snow situation in our nordic Midwest. I was (and still am) very…