The Tour waits for nobody, and whether or not you’re ready the races keep coming! But I really like that. The whole field is pretty fragile but we’re doing everything we can to stay on top of recovery, and I don’t feel too trashed yet. Although Steph, our massage therapist on the road with us, could probably tell you otherwise after working out some serious knots!
Yesterday, our longest stage of the Tour (a 15km skate for women, 35km for men) was a really good race for me. I felt strong and recovered, and was able to move up another 12 spots into 27th place overall, with the 10th fastest split of the day. Having my best distance race of the year so far is another good confidence booster. Geez, it feels so good to be healthy!
Here’s the top things I’ve learned about the Tour de Ski so far: Drink, Eat, and Be Merry. No, seriously.
1. Drink. Staying hydrated is so crucial, especially when some of the venues are at moderate altitude.
2. Eat. TONS. Of. Food. And powerbars. And whatever you can get!
3. Stay positive, no matter what. Focus on the day at hand. Don’t worry about what happened the day before, and what might or might not happen tomorrow. Just do everything you can in the moment.
4. If you are the carsick type, carry ginger with you. Because there are some seriously twisty roads through the Dolomites.
5. Take sleeping pills if you need to. Just do it!
6. Learn to relax. Let each race go the moment you cross the finish line and try not to get worked up about the next race till 2 hours before it. Otherwise you can waste a ton of nervous energy!
As promised, I’m going to end this post with more mustache pictures from Kikkan’s birthday. These are just too funny not to share!
Kikkan and Liz doing a recon mission on the town
Holly and THE mustache
OH! Hi Liz!
