In order to step up to the European standards of skimo racing, a sprint race was added on Saturday morning. We woke early in order to get a sufficient warm-up in before the short six minute race. The temperature was frigid, -18 degrees Fahrenheit at the start, which does not match well with spandex race suits and thin gloves. I had never participated or even watched a sprint before, but understood that it included uphill kick turns, a descent, another ascent, a bootpack and a final descent. It was an individual time trial format with racers going off at 30 second intervals.

Of course, I was chosen to go first for both men and women so I had no one to pace or watch for pointers. Six minutes is not enough time to really get hot, so my fingers were completely numb when I tried to put skins back on my skis for the second ascent. I dropped my skins a few times purely because I could not feel what I was doing. The second girl to start, Melanie Bernier of Canada, caught me in transition, meaning she had already made 30 seconds on me. I finished just behind her, went inside and worked on thawing my fingers. I manged to finish in third behind Melanie and Janelle Smiley, about 35 seconds back from 1st place.

The championship race on Sunday was truly epic. Leaving the base of Crested Butte ski area, I pushed hard to stay close to the front of the pack in order to have as few people in front of me on the ridge as possible. Racing alongside men I usually am behind, I felt strong from the start. When I arrived at the rope for the Guide’s Ridge section, I quickly transitioned and managed to pass about five people. Despite my fear of heights and ropes, I managed to move pretty well on the ridge and even pass a few people. Only a few people passed me, all of whom are experienced climbers and mountaineers. One of the people to pass me was Janelle Smiley, my Sportiva teammate and a great climber.

I was relieved to hear at the top of the ridge that Janelle had only put about five minutes on me throughout the rope section. I put my head down and worked hard to make up any ground I could over the next two ascents and descents. As I got within about two minutes of Janelle, I got panicky and lost all form, causing my skins to come off. Quickly replacing skins, I lost vaulable time and momentum.  Caught behind a bunch of racers on their first lap at that point, I realized I didn’t have enough mountain to catch Janelle so I sat up and enjoyed the final climb and descent.

I finished Sunday in 2nd place, 4 minutes 21 seconds behind Janelle. With our combined times from Saturday, Janelle won the weekend and Stevie Kremer placed third. The American women swept the North American Championship podium! It was an amazing course that tested my skills and my comfort level. Thanks to Bryan Wickenhauser for organizing! Links below.

Ascending the Guides Ridge. From bottom: Chris Kroger, Sari Anderson, Janelle Smiley and Jan Koles

Sprint Results

Championship Results with Overall

Photos from Kevin Krill of Crested Butte Photography.

Photos and video from Chris Miller.

Last year at the US National Ski Mountaineering Championships in Jackson Hole, I had a disappointing race because of equipment issues – I didn’t manage my skins properly.  I’ve been looking forward to coming back to Jackson ever since. I’ve been training hard despite the lack of snow in Colorado and felt ready going into the weekend. My parents graciously volunteered to watch the kids so Ian, Jari Kirkland and I could drive up to Wyoming on Friday.

Despite my preparation, I felt nervous on Saturday morning and began to doubt my fitness. As the gun went off, we all started fast as usual. I took the lead for about three minutes until Gemma Arro Ribot passed me with Stevie Kremer and Janelle Smiley on her tail. I tried to fall in behind them, but I couldn’t hold the pace and I fell off the group by a few minutes. Feeling a bit frustrated, I decided to race my own race, knowing I was going as hard as I could and there were three more hours to go.

Towards the top of the first climb, about an hour into the race, I was beginning to gain on the lead girls. I passed last year’s national champ, Janelle Smiley, in the first transition as she struggled with a broken boot (impressively she was able to get a strap and finish the race) and gained more time on both Gemma and Stevie.

At the bottom of the second descent, I passed Stevie Kremer in transition and started to feel like my training was paying off.  I was feeling strong – eating and drinking well.

I passed Gemma on the second-to-last descent and never looked back. With one more fast transition, I was in and out before Gemma arrived. I concentrated on form and managed to pass about three or four more men on the final climb. I skied the final descent fast, but with a bit of caution to ensure I didn’t get sloppy and crash. As I tucked into the finish I was finally able to breath a sigh of relief. I finished in 3:04, about four minutes faster than last year. My training paid off, and my decision to stick to my own race plan proved to be the right call.

Stevie Kremer finished in second with Gemma Arro Ribot in third. My La Sportiva teammate Luke Nelson took the win for the men with Scott Simmons and Jason Dorias finshing second and third respectively. Full results can be found on the race site here. Photos from Kevin Krill here. A bunch of photos that Ian took are below.  Thanks for reading!

Start of the 2012 Ski Mountaineering National Champs at Jackson Hole

Men’s national champ and La Sportiva athlete – Luke Nelson

Cary Smith with the Grand Teton in the background

Stevie Kremer and I finishing the first bootpack

Sari & Stevie again. We go faster when we drop our heads.

Brian Edmiston rips skins for the short descent down Coombs Couloir.

Jen Gersbach rocked her first skimo race.

A good day for for Sportiva! Sari & Luke happy to be national champs.

Sari & Stevie at the finish. Women’s #1 and #2.

(L to R): Stevie Kremer 2nd, Sari Anderson 1st, Gemma Arro Ribot 3rd

Super cool trophy. A piece of the old tram cable.

As usual, the start felt fast and I pushed to keep pace. It felt great to be back racing on my skis however I knew early on I would suffer straight through the finish. Stevie Kremer, Janelle Smiley and myself raced alongside one another through the first climb and descent and partway up the second climb. At which point Janelle started to trail a little.

Stevie and I raced tip to tail up three quarters of the final climb when I finally cracked. I could tell Stevie had more in the tank when I pulled over to fix my boot for a second. As Stevie went by, I tried to hold on as long as I could but she quickly opened a gap.

I finished a few minutes behind Stevie leaving everything I had on the course. Janelle finished in third with Lyndsay and Jari Kirkland in 4th and 5th. It was so much fun to race so closely with Stevie and Janelle and to fight right until the end. There is lots of work to be done before the next race but I’m ready for it after a nice relaxing off season.

Unofficial results from memory:

Men:
Marshall Thomson
Brian Smith
Bryan Wickenhauser

Women:
Stevie Kremer
Sari Anderson
Janelle Smiley
Lyndsay Meyer
Jari Kirland

Thank you very much to Jake Jones, Bryan Wickenhauser and the CS Irwin staff for another great race!

I hadn’t done an adventure race in a few years and was very excited for the opportunity to race with Buff/Thermocool. I was very aware of how hard it was going to be to be away from the family for over two weeks, but I never imagined just how hard it actually was.

As Arnau, Benja, Fran and I started racing alongside 80 other teams, we all had the goal of a top five finish which I believe we were capable of as a team. Unfortunately we had a kayak on leg one of the race which continued to deflate, causing us to be much slower and work much harder. We took that in stride as it was out of our control and moved on knowing we had days to make up the time. When we arrived at the clay pigeon shooting, I realized my teammates had decided I would shoot for our team being that I was the American. Or really, because none of us had done this before. Despite thinking I was right on target, I managed to miss all five pigeons so we had to sit out a ten minute penalty.

Although we never said it out loud, we were all getting a bit worried about our position so early in the race. We moved well in the next legs of biking, trekking and kayaking with some mistakes. Racing with two Spanish guys and a Frenchie that speaks Spanish, I often felt out of the loop as they discussed tactics and options in Spanish. Knowing they had the same goals as I did, I trusted their decisions and often completely zoned out the chatter around me.

By the fifth day of racing, I was becoming very sleepy and wishing it was a little easier to communicate with my teammates to help keep me awake on our 150 km bike ride mostly on dirt roads not requiring much attention. I felt bad that I have no Spanish skills and was solely relying on my teammates to use their second or third language to communicate with me. The longer we raced and the more tired we became, the harder it was for Benja and Arnau to speak in English (Fran spoke only Spanish requiring he and I to communicate through one of our teammates). Therefore I began to fall asleep on the bike and could not come back without actual sleep.

Racing with teammates that have raced many expedition adventure races is great, as they quickly realized I needed sleep and took the opportunity of a covered shelter to sleep for three hours. When it was time to rally, I woke up feeling extremely nauseous. Knowing this is normal in these races, I forced some food down and myself onto my bike. We didn’t make it far before I began to feel worse and had to make some pit stops in the bushes. Moving very slowly, we came upon a mining camp that graciously hosted us for a hot breakfast and a lounge to sleep. With almost four more hours of rest and a bunch of trips to the bathroom, we knew we no longer were fighting for a podium position but continued on.

Just a few hours later, I was on the side of the road again and our race was over.

The race may have been over, but I have not stopped thinking about it since then. I’ve had good races and bad adventure races before, but my team had always finished. It is still hard for me to know that Buff/Thermocool, 2010 world champs, did not finish because of me. I had no fight left in me when I climbed into the explosives expert from the mine’s car and headed back to Burnie but I was more bummed than I can remember feeling before.

My teammates were very supportive and caring throughout the race, our withdrawal, and the days after the race. Despite them telling me it was okay, I know they were as bummed as I was. We had plenty of time after the race to discuss what happened and talk about ways to prevent it from happening again. All this made me feel slightly better but only slightly.

Through emails, texts and Skype chats, Ian let me know things were overall fine at home but that Juniper’s behavior was less than stellar while I was gone. I felt guilty for leaving both Ian and his mother in this situation and wished I could transport myself home to help. At this point I was feeling sorry for myself and swearing to myself that I was done competing and training. I must have been delusional from the race because I figured since I missed the kids so much and was so ready to be home, that me quitting racing would make everything right.

I’ve been home five days and had to get out for a short run the second day back. Although I don’t feel 100 percent recovered, I have enjoyed a few more runs and had a few days I couldn’t drag myself out the door. Running with my friend Elinor, we chatted about how there is no limit to the amount we love our children and husbands and how much we miss them while apart. I know in reality that doing more multi-day races in the next few years is not realistic but I also have come to the conclusion that I am too competitive to give up racing altogether.

Being able to focus on my children this week has been a blessing. It has enabled me to not think about the race every minute and has given me a chance to make up for some lost time we spent training before heading to Tasmania. Both Juniper and Axel are thrilled to have me home, Ian is getting a much needed and deserved reprieve and I am actually taking an off-season before skimo racing begins in a few weeks.

Although I have always preached about being able to train, compete, work and have children, I think I pushed myself and my family to its limits leading up to and during the AR world champs. My family is the most amazing and important thing in the world to me so if that means a little less racing for a little while, then I’ll take it.

After some hot food and a rest in their lounge, we once again thought we would be good to go. Unfortunately my stomach did not have the same intentions. Even with Fran towing me on the bike, I was forced to stop yet again. This time for good.

As we flagged down a car to drive Arnau and I to Burnie, the reality that I had forced my team to withdraw began to hit me. Although I could not continue, it is still extremely difficult to let myself and my teammates down like this. I am so thankful that the boys have been super supportive and caring throughout. Despite not always being able to communicate with words, they communicated their empathy very well. Thank you to Fran Costoya, Arnau Julia Bonmati and Benjamin Medina for being wonderful teammates. I am sorry our race ended this way.

Despite being a little sore from the Lead King Loop last weekend, I continued a hard week of intervals and training thanks to Lindsay Hyman at CTS. On Friday, I enjoyed an easy day to prepare for the Golden Leaf Half Marathon on Saturday.

I took the last two years off from the Golden Leaf but three years ago I managed to pull off a win with a time of 1:45:47. My main goal this year was to better that time by a few minutes.

Training on the road with the kids in the Chariot has helped my speed on the flats and the descents but my pace on the steep climbs has suffered. This was obvious both last week and this week as I struggled up the starting climbs in both races. As the Golden Leaf course topped out and started heading down the Government Trail, I began to feel stronger and eventually found I could to push the pace.

Axel, Sari & Juniper at the finish of the Golden Leaf

I finished as the second woman in 1:47:52, four minutes behind Stevie Kremer from Crested Butte and two minutes slower than my time in 2008. After talking to many of the racers at the finish, we agreed the course was at least a few minutes longer than a few years ago so I figured my pace still was a bit faster.

Overall, I was  happy with my race and how strong I felt throughout the 13.1 miles. I even managed to get in a brick of sorts, with a mountain bike ride in later that afternoon for an hour and a half.

Sari & Ian enjoying a rare ride together

Sunday continued a great weekend as Ian and I joined about 10 other Roaring Fork locals for an amazing fall mountain bike ride.  The perfect weather and spectacular views quickly cured my tired legs.

As we descended a newly built trail, Ian and I were forced to make the decision to cut out and head back home to the kids. As much as we would have loved to ride another hour or so, we figured a five hour ride together was a sweet opportunity and we shouldn’t push our luck much more.

Finishing up the day with some family time completed the golden weekend. Here’s to hoping we have more beautiful days of training before I head to Tasmania for the Adventure Racing Wolds.

Golden Leaf results here.

Perfect day in the mountains in my new skin suit I picked up in Chamonix

Ian convinced me to enter the lottery way back in January and to our mutual surprise, I got in. For the rest of the year, I tried to focus on the race and made a spot on the podium my goal. Of course, a lot of other top pro woman had the same idea. In the weeks leading up to the race, the hype and anticipation surrounding Leadville started to really get to me and I began to dread it.

Fighting through the pain at Twin Lakes

Thankfully my coach, Lindsay Hyman at Carmichael Training, has raced Leadville before and she gave me good beta on each section of the course as well as nutrition and hydration recommendations.

Friday afternoon, my Honey Stinger teammate Max Taam and I got out for a pre-race ride and a little time on the St. Kevin’s climb. As we dropped off the backside and began the short descent, my wheels slid out from under me and I went down hard and fast, sliding on my side down the dirt road. More embarrassed than anything, I jumped right up  to inspect the damage. Thankfully my bike was fine, but I had pretty good road rash on my leg, hip and arm. I was shaken, but hoped that I just gotten any race day crashes out of my system. The CTS folks helped clean me up and dressed me up with second skin and lots of cheese cloth bandaging.

The race started clean and fast early Saturday morning. I was excited to finally get going and not too worried that I wasn’t anywhere near the rest of the pro women. Passing the spot where I crashed the day before and heading down the pavement, my back and hip started to seize up. I quickly realized I must have crashed harder than I thought. About fifteen miles into the race, my goal of a podium finish vanished and I wondered if I could even finish. For the next 25 miles my emotions ran the entire spectrum from total depression to absolute determination.

When I got to the Twin Lakes aid station I got off my bike to stretch my back. My support crew, Rob Russell and Scott Leonard, saw the pain I was in and asked if I was going to continue. Thinking of them spending their day watching after me, I decided I needed to go every inch I possibly could. Racing can be selfish but I knew in the long run I would feel terrible if my support had devoted their day to me and I gave up.

My back didn’t feel much better going up or down the Columbine climb, and I once again considered dropping from the race at Twin Lakes. This time though, Ian, Axel and Juniper were there waiting and cheering for me. I stopped quickly to give them hugs and kisses and that gave the strength to ride the next 40 miles.

My back started to feel a little better from that point and I focused on a negative split for the race. I found myself riding next to Elden Nelson, aka the world-famous Fat Cyclist, whose blog I’ve enjoyed for years now. Elden is an inspiration and I was psyched to be riding with him.

With a few miles to go, I found a smile for the camera

The rest of the race is kind of a blur, but I do vividly remember my friend Alissa, who ran beside me on some of the final pavement miles and helped me find the motivation to finish.

My final time was 8:19. Overall, it was one of the toughest races I can remember and I’m still disappointed about the way it turned out, but I’m proud of the fact that I finished. A big congrats goes to Rebecca Rusch, who broke her own record in the race and won her third straight Leadville victory. My longtime friend Gretchen Reeves had an awesome race and finished in second. Pua Mata suffered mechanicals and came in third, while Jenny Smith finished her first 100 miler in an impressive fourth place. Legendary olympian, Tammy Jaques came in fifth, and then Annie Gonzalez, who just turned 50 years old and got her first pro license came in sixth. I finished in seventh, proud to race with such an inspirational, strong group of ladies.

Now, I’ve got to get packing for my trip to Rhode Island. Hopefully, my back feels better by next Saturday when I’m racing the Mt. Washington Hill Climb. 4,000 feet of climbing in less than eight miles. Gulp.

Ian & Sari Anderson 2nd, Zack & Caitlyn Vestal 1st, Linda & Jake Wells 3rd

Racing with Ian is not something I get to do very often since normally one of us is on the sidelines hanging with the kids. The Honey Stinger Steamboat Stinger gave us the chance to race as a duo coed team. Originally we thought we would do the hand-off of the kids when coming through the lap and trading off but thankfully my mom came into town and was able to watch the kids. I don’t think the kid hand-off would have slowed us much but it made it much easier for Ian to warm up for the second lap without having to tow the Chariot and worry about snacks and naps.

It was decided that I would go first which I was excited about as I am not good with waiting around to race. After a quick warm up, I jumped on the line to start two minutes behind the open men. Our group caught the back half of the open men within a few minutes and I wished I had warmed up more and gone out harder to have gotten in front of more people. But I can only learn from my mistake so I sat in a long line of people all wishing they were up a few places and I passed on the short road sections when I could.

As I descended down to the backside of the course, things opened much more and I was able to pass a bunch of racers on the road before jumping back onto singletrack for the remainder of the race. I was fortunate enough to be able to climb the next four miles with Honey Stinger owner, Bill Gamber, who knew the course well.

I crested the final long climb finally starting to feel ready to race and finished much stronger than I had started and raring to go. Oh well, I hope that means I will be getting faster as the Leadville 100 miles pile up. I handed off to Ian knowing I had a few minutes lead over Caitlyn Vestal but many minutes behind Jake Wells. We would have no idea which couple would win until the finish line.

Zack Vestal came across looking as if he was out for a Sunday stroll with Ian just 24 seconds behind him working hard to sneak up on Zack. Linda Wells finished just a few minutes back making the top three in the coed duo race super close. We had a great day and were happy with our finish. The inaugural Steamboat Stinger went off ridiculously well thanks to Len Zanni, Colin Osborn, Nate Bird and their entire team of volunteers. The 95% singletrack course is on the top of my list and should be for you next year as well.

Results here.

Ian finishing strong for our team.

Sonya Looney 2nd, Sari, Sonya Bugbee 3rd

With about a month until the Leadville 100, I raced the Breck 68 yesterday as a training race. I opted not to race the Breck 100 as the time on the bike was more similar to Leadville in the 68 than it was in the 100. I hadn’t raced any of the races in this event before and was looking forward to the great singletrack that I had heard reviews of from many friends.

The Breck 68 consists of two separate laps which are laps 2 and 3 of the 100. I was very familiar with the trails of my first loop and rode well from the start. Sonya Looney and I separated from the other women and I was able to pull away a little while passing many of the men that had started ahead of us in the 68 as well as many of the 100 riders. I concentrated on drinking fluid and eating enough calories to make sure I would not bonk during the second half of the race.

As I came through the start/finish area finishing lap 1, my legs felt great but my stomach was starting to get irritated. I figured I had not eaten or drank enough so I took in another Honey Stinger bar and Nuun hoping it would soon pass. Grinding up the Indiana climb, I kept my momentum going forward despite my stomach getting worse. Knowing Sonya Looney, Jen Tilley and Sonya Bugbee were coming for me, I pushed through the pain as each bump I hit on the descent off Boreas Pass hurt like nothing I had felt before.

My legs felt great climbing back up Boreas Pass but I was not racing anymore. At that point I was simply riding as fast as I possibly could hoping I could hold my position for the last 10 or so miles. With a short detour on the descent to verify a course marking, I limped into the finish line in 6 hours and 48 minutes only 17 seconds before Sonya Looney. Thankfully Sonya had also taken the same detour and was never able to see me as she surely would have been able to catch me at that point as she was getting stronger throughout the race. Results here (I’m not sure why I’m in the age group category and not pro but…).

I have no idea what caused my stomach issues as I ate and drank the same things I always do in a race – Honey Stinger chews and bars with water and Nuun. This was exactly what I needed as a tune-up for Leadville. Thanks to Carmichael Training and Lindsay Hyman my legs were ready and felt great. I’m looking forward to the Steamboat Stinger next weekend in hopes of getting past my stomach issues and having my legs feel as well as they did yesterday.

After dropping the kids off with Ian’s parents, Ian and I arrived almost a week before the start of the board meeting for a long-overdue, child-free vacation. Arriving in Geneva on Saturday, we rented road bikes on our way out of the city, and then drove to Chamonix to stay with Michael and Nina Silitch. At the last minute, Michael convinced us to enter a 133km road race on Sunday. The Time Megeve Mont Blanc turned out to be a great way for Ian and I (along with over 2,000 other French roadies) to ride over some amazing cols and see some beautiful parts of France. I ended up finishing as the third woman in the long race, but missed out on the podium because Ian accidentally signed me up as a man on the French website. I guess we better work on his French.

Ian & I at the start of the Time Megeve Mont Blanc

Michael and Nina Silitch were amazing hosts giving us a place to crash as well as joining us out on some cool local runs and rides. Nina, Lyndsay Meyer and I enjoyed a nice early morning run to Chalet de le Floria on Monday, climbing about 1,000 meters above Chamonix in just under 3 kilometers. I enjoyed the girl time as much as the great views and training.

Nina, Sari & Lyndsay at La Floria

Lyndsay & Sari with the 200 types of flowers

Ian and I then popped over the border into Switzerland to visit with Vail ex-pats Pezz and Shane Gaherty. We hadn’t seen them in years and we enjoyed an incredible day of catching up and riding around the Swiss countryside near the Medieval town of Murten. Of course I had just gotten a tiny bit comfortable with French and we arrive there to everyone speaking German. Add that to the list of languages we need to work on.

Shane, Sari & Pezz in Murten

On our way back to Chamonix, we stopped for one more road ride in the Swiss Alps at the recommendation of Pezz and Shane. Leaving from the tiny town of Le Sepey, we climbed the Col de Mosses, rode through Gstaad, climbed the Col de Pillon, and headed back to Le Sepey via Les Diablerets. With another three hours of riding under my belt, I think my total miles for this trip may have equaled my total for the season so far.

Ian above one of the many canyons on our Le Sepey loop

Opting for a day off the bike, Nina and I suffered through some hill intervals on Wednesday morning and then the Silitch’s pointed us in the direction of a hike below Mont Blanc. Starting right from their house, we climbed to Montenvers, checked out the Mer de Glace glacier and then continued to Plan de l’Aiguille. Since we could not spend the night at the Refuge Plan de l’Aiguille, we settled on lunch with amazing views of the Mont Blanc area and the town of Chamonix.

Refuge Plan de l'Aiguille

Trams in the clouds above the mid station at the Aiguille du Midi

With just one day left before meeting the Polartec crew, we decided to rent bikes for one more day. Heading out of Chamonix over the Col de Montets, we then descended to the Swiss border and began climbing to the Emosson Dam above the town of Finhaut. Of course when Michael told us there were two roads to get to Emosson, we opted for the steeper, less traffic option. This would have been fine except the road was closed at one point and we had to sneak across the construction site. And, of course my legs were thrashed from six non-stop days of racing, riding, hiking and running. In the end, the long climb to the the dam was well worth the views of the Mont Blanc Massif it provided.

The steeper, no-traffic road to Emosson

Emosson Dam

On Friday morning, feeling a little tired, I convinced fellow Polartec athlete Laurent Valette to join me for a quick flat run around town before we were locked inside a conference room for the day to discuss fabric. Our meeting was the best yet with many great ideas thrown around and constructive feedback given by all athletes. Unfortunately, torrential rain stopped us from getting up the Aiguille du Midi today but Ian and I managed a very wet, hour and a half hour run instead. According to my Garmin, I managed to squeeze in 24 hours of training this week, which is by far the most I have had in a week in years. Best of all, I got to do it all with Ian – and this has been the best vacation we’ve ever enjoyed together. We are off to Courmayeur, Italyfor dinner this evening and then I am really excited to head home and see the kids tomorrow!

Morning run with Laurent before a day of meetings