A Sunday skiing in the forest

Sunday the third of March it was time to line up at the start line at Vasaloppet again. The 90K long cross country skiing competition that almost all Swedes have a relation to was held for the 100ed time. This winter have been filled with snow in Sweden so the possibilities to train had been there. I have though spent most of the winter in Istanbul, Turkey and with the lack of winter conditions there my training have mostly consisted of running and gym visits. The times I have been visiting the North I have been practicing as much as I could for the race. Enough? I would say yes. With the conditions this year I would not made it better if I would have skied 150 additional kilometers before the race. This year was a fight against the weather conditions from the start to the finish line. Not a very pleasant ride throughout the forests of Dalarna and has by many been seen as the race with worst weather conditions in history.

Traveling to Sälen

Some days before the race the newspaper Dagens Nyheter contacted me and asked if I wanted to be featured in an article about costs related to Vasaloppet. I said yes and on Saturday morning I got messages from near and dear ones that had read it. Sad to say, to participate in Vasaloppet is an expensive story and not everyone can afford it even with prioritization. Myself I travelled from Istanbul to Zürich on Tuesday then I spent some days at the office there before heading to Stockholm on Thursday evening. Friday was a busy day to arrange everything after work since I was leaving on Saturday morning to Sälen. I woke up early on Friday and went to the supermarket as soon as they opened and purchased food to bring with me for the coming 36 hours. Friday evening after work I went out for a small celebration of a friend that had her birthday and Saturday morning it was time to take the train to Mora. The train was completely packed with skiers and filled with enthusiasm for what was ahead. For some the first time and for others like me the Xth time. The travel went smooth and from Mora I took the bus to Sälen where my house mates picked me up in the late afternoon. The plan was to go and pick up the start number but the line to enter the race fair was incredible long so we decided to get back later and just went to hand in the skis to get them ready for the adventure. Then back home to the accommodation and final preparations was ongoing. We was a rather big group of around ten people staying together, not all was going to do the race but everyone was in race mode so we had a good evening before the lights were out early enough to get up at 04 am.

Race morning

04 am the alarm was sounding. Breakfast time. I was not hungry but energy is needed for a full day skiing so I had bread and a juice before walking out and over the frozen river to line up for handing in the skiis in the right corral. The 45 minutes of waiting time out in the -1 degree cold morning hour went fast. I got the front row of my corral to the right. Great, my favourite position to have during the first climb. The start area was extremely muddy and filled with clay so I was very fortunate that I had brought with me a pair of rain boots. I saw so many others walking there in sneakers or their skiing boots damaging both the footwear and causing wet and cold feets already from the start. Back to the base camp for a second breakfast and some relaxing time as well as the final toilet visit then it was time to head back to the start just before 07:30. 07:45 you need to be at the starting position but this year was chaos due to the weather so many skiers missed the timeslot and even had to walk more than a handful of kilometers to reach the start. That is absolutely not how you would like to start a long day like the Vasaloppet day.

08:00 when the journey begins

Complete silence and then. Boom. Race is on. It goes fast and slow and then stop. The hill towards the highest point of the course was coming. It is crowded and you are standing close, close to your fellow skiiers. The focus is on keeping your skiis and poles intact. Next to me when climbing the hill the famous singers Måns and Klara that was taking on the skiing challenge showed up. Slowly but surely without falling and keeping the equipment without damaged I reached the highest point and the race could start. I knew it would be a tough day with terrible weather, no tracks and absolutely no sun like last year. And I was right.

This was my 7^th time participating in the race and all of them have been different. It was foggy and small raindrops were falling making it very difficult to ski. I could immediately feel that this would require a lot of effort and trying to get a good time was not focus. The goal was to finish. Due to the weather and sugar like snow I could not use my favorite technique. It is definitely a good thing to know the race course and my first focus was to reach the second food and beverage station where the first cup of blueberry soup is being served. At this point you more or less know how the day will turn out and when I got there I know for sure it would be my never give up thinking against the weather. And I am not going to lose against the weather.

Into the forest

I usually only take very small breaks but with Sundays conditions I know it would be a long day so better to stop at each station, eat, drink and visit the toilet if necessary. And stretch a bit. No time pressure at all. Even the downhill parts was a challenge without any proper tracks. With all the snow slush there was not enough speed to glide up towards the next hill so also when you normally don’t have to use any energy you had to use full force to get up. Luckily I was not alone struggling. When talking to fellow skiers everyone was struggling and agreed on that this was not an easy race for us hobby skiers. I had a friend that did the race the week before so she was out being support today. I looked forward to see her and I knew she was waiting with Coke, licorice as well as my old pair of boots in case needed. My feet’s did survived the wet snow and was not very cold so I didn’t needed to change to a new pair in the middle of the race. It was an energy boost to see her and know that I was almost half way through. The second half is much easier than the first one less climbing so if you make it the first half you can count on reaching the finish line. But this year the second half was not much easier. It was easier but not much easier.

With a goal in mind

The forest therapy continued. 60K done and only 30K to go. 30K I can do every day so here I was never worried I would not make it. I took once again a long stop at a station, took off my skis and stretched a bit while having another snack. I felt my energy was quite low so I also had a bun although I don’t like them at all but this day requires a lot of energy and I could feel how my energy level immediately increased after eating it. Then back to the tracks. Sorry, the snow slush. I looked forward to seeing my friend again, having the chocolate ball, the Volvo track and the coffee at the last stop. With ten hours of skiing you really have time to think a lot about all and everything. Funny enough, although the struggle I never thought about giving up. When it was 11K left the best surprise you can wish for came. A track making machine showed up and we got new tracks. It was a true hallelujah moment and I was thinking yes, this will be an easy way to the finish line where I finally could only use my arms. The fun did not last all 11K though. After 3K the proper tracks were again gone and it was back to fighting the snow slush. Now in the darkness. I have always finished before the darkness the other times I have participated and the fellow skiers around me said the same. This was a new experience. I made a new friend during the last five kilometers and she said this was worse today than giving birth and she had three children. Honestly it was tough. It is a huge difference skiing when you have perfect conditions with cold, hard tracks and sun compared to snowslush, no tracks and fog and rain. After all I made it over the finish line and managed with a very small marginal to be among the top 1000 females. Fair enough.

Next year is another change and I hope to be back. Now I am finished with cross country skiing for this season and I am looking forward to participate in running races again. Anyone else who participated this year in any of the Vasaloppet races or will do it next year?

/ Pernilla that now is finished with winter