USSA National Championships

Houghton, MI was the site of this years Nordic skiing national championships. The races were held at the MTU ski trails near Michigan Tec University. The trails were in great shape for the week of racing thanks in large part to the huge dump of snow that the UP got mid week.
I raced in the 10K skate race on Tuesday only, skipping the classic race - in part because the week before I was feeling a little flat and did not want to put myself under so early in the season and in part to rest for the 12 Hours of Telemark just a few days later.
The skate race went well for me. I felt strong and finished ahead of several people I was close to all last season and a few old high school rivals.
In the long term outlook for the season, my coach (Chad) and I decided that because I am racing well and am very fit right now I am going to cut out most of the intensity in my training plan for the rest of the season. We decided that racing two races a week itself should be enough to keep me on the ball. We are approaching the high point of the CCSA racing season now, and figured that we don’t need to do more intensity than absolutely necessary. This should ensure that I don’t burn out early for skiing, and that I still have something left for some good 5K and 10K’s in track.