A Perfect Race

Way back in high school I realized I was good at double poling. It quickly became my favorite technique. It didn’t require balance and I could use my upper body. I don’t have great VO2max. OK, I’ve never measured it but I figure running speed, like say a flat out mile, says something about aerobic capacity and I’m not exactly a gifted runner. But for me, the double pole is the great equalizer because it requires strength and technique in addition to cardiovascular fitness. People I have zero chance of ever keeping up with in a running race I can take down double poling. 

There weren't any classic photos this year so here's some from the skate race. Here is near the start (by the Mora Nordic Center) in The Vasa with Laura front and center and Ben L on the right. Laura finished 5th in the women's race.

And so it’s become that the Mora Vasaloppet, a fairly flat and largely double-poleable course, has become my absolute favorite. I’ve wanted to get that wreath around my neck at Mora for years. I’ve been on the podium a bunch, but not since they added prize money to The Classic. But that hasn’t stopped me from the dream and training and tapering for Mora. Some weekends I “train through” my races in preparation for my A races of the season and Mora is always an A race for me.

I took two days off before Mora this year and while sitting on the couch the day before glanced at my watch and it said my heart rate was 46. I didn’t know my heart rate got that low! I checked it manually and confirmed the reading. I hoped that meant I was rested for Mora.

Even though I was tapering my training, I made sure to eat a good amount throughout the day before the race. Back in the day, I used to not eat much until a huge dinner and not be able to sleep because my stomach was so full. I don’t do that anymore. I also put chocolate chips in my overnight oats the morning of the race. It’s always interesting to me that even though I’m eating just a bit more than my normal amount of breakfast food, which I usually take down without any issue, on race morning the butterflies make it hard to stomach my breakfast.

I’ve also found it’s important to do anything that makes me a little happy. As such I definitely have my special clothes for racing. This includes a pair of navy blue long underwear that I’ve had for two decades and my blue Finlandia hat from 2008. So if you’ve seen photos of me racing, well, I almost always sport the same headgear.

 

Elena racing The Dala. She won her age class got a red horsee.

I had forgotten that The Classic at Mora now had a prize purse until a few days before the race when I was reading through the guide again. I was bummed about this because prize money usually means deeper competition and although I’m speedy, I'm far from World Cup level. Wreath-around-my-neck dreams shattered. Podium B goal forgotten. Hopefully I can just eek out a dala horse in my 10 year age class.

The morning of the race I looked at Saturday’s Mora skate race results. This told me who might be doubling and who might show up fresh. But I didn’t really know who would be there. I did my warm up ski and since there were already some skis down in the start I decided to put mine down, too. I debated between the second, third, and fourth rows, eventually settling on the third, telling myself I could always switch farther back with someone later on. That’s the nice part about being up front, we all know each other and our abilities.

When I returned to the start there was Margie. My former teammate Sarah was there, too. She’d gotten third in the skate race the day before. I’d been picking up my bib when Chelsey Youngberg was getting hers, so I knew she was there, too. I’d seen Renae Anderson had raced yesterday and then there she was finding a place on the front line. There were a couple other faster looking women, one I recognized from the Founders Classic and another one I didn’t know. OK, mark all the women. Sarah’s probably going to beat me but pay attention at the start. I stayed in the third row, next to teammate Ben and behind teammate Brock. Sarah was to my right and Margie was behind me.

The gun went off. If I’ve learned anything over the years ski racing, it’s that the first 200 meters matter more than any other part of the race. Who you start with and behind and ahead of determines sooooo much. So I started fast and strong and quickly was in front of Sarah who was over in the tracks. After a couple bends, way less than half a kilometer into the race, I saw Chelsey in front of me. Erik was to my right. There was an open track. I wondered if he knew that he was slightly between second and third place woman. He wasn’t moving into that track so I jumped in it. And there was Chelsey. How could she be so close to me? She’d been kicking my teammate Gabby’s butt this year. And to be clear, Gabby is in a totally different league than me. I don’t even see Gabby EVER during intervals. I think she like does them with our top guys. Just try, Elspeth, my competitive side screamed as my conscience quipped that’s so dumb to even think you can keep with her. No. Just try.

So I tried and within the next kilometer she was totally out of sight as I’d figured. I tried to keep Erik in sight as we skied around some corners on the flat trail. My teammate Maria had said to me before the race, “when I get lapped” and immediately I thought I’m not getting lapped! Someone came up on my right and it was Owen. Holy crap, I must be skiing fast. I’ve never skied by Owen before. I’m definitely not getting lapped! I think I spent most of the first lap skiing with Owen and another guy. The trail snakes all around and a couple times I could see I had a slight gap on Sarah. As we came through the lap lane the announcer called “Elspeth Ronnander, currently in third place.”

Now it was onto the second lap, this time we would start going down to Lake Mora. Owen got away from me and bridged up to the pack with Erik. Soon there was someone else on my right. I’d only gotten a brief look at them but feared they were a woman but soon enough they passed me, fast, and it was a dude with a ponytail. Suddenly Erik seemed closer to me out on the lake but he was now packed up with Owen and a YAM and soon they gapped me more.

But as we climbed up from the lake and made a couple more turns, I couldn’t help but think that I’d never seen a male YAM in front of me before so I couldn’t be doing too bad. Then I noticed that Owen had fallen off that pack and I was slowly making time on him. I began lapping skiers and cheering them on. If Josie isn’t in this race (conflicts with her kids and the Wisconsin State Champs) I’ll take on the role of cheerleader.

At this point it all becomes a bit blurry. There was Erik’s pack in front of me, usually a couple guy stragglers off that pack between us, and a couple guys behind me. I definitely passed Owen on that lap. I never really thought about my pace, mostly just in my groove, double poling hard, striding/running when it made sense (not much) and then herring bone running all the steep hills and running/pushing hard over the top of every hill. 

Perennial favorites in The Dala, Nate and Paul skiing together early on in the race.

 

Craig and Nate racing a bit later on in The Dala. Nate would go on to win, beating out Craig by two seconds. Paul ended up a couple places behind.

Ever since I started citizen ski racing I’ve noticed that there’s two races going on. There’s the overall race and then there’s the women’s race. Us women are interspersed with the men and there usually aren’t many of us. It feels so different to me skiing around women versus men. It’s like brownie points to beat men but the real race is between me and the scattered women. That’s what matters. Anytime I’m going for a podium I prefer to not be racing close with other women. Ranae and Chelsey were so far in front of me I didn’t have to worry about them, but I was always concerned about who might be chasing me from behind. 

Mary Beth going strong in The Dala.

By the third lap I was closing in on a guy who was just double poling. I don’t use my kick much but I’m convinced it makes a difference. I soon passed him. Half way through the third lap I could see a couple guys catching me. The first one turned out to be Jim Carlan. He passed me quickly. Keep him in your sights, I told myself. Perhaps, had he been a woman, I would have had more motivation to stick with him. But also, as I’ve written about so much previously, I really prefer to ski by myself, albeit with some others around. As we went out on the north lake for the second time in the third lap, I heard someone next to me. Present yourself, I thought. I was pretty sure it was another guy, and indeed it was, and another one without kick wax. He didn’t pass me quite as fast and he never got too far in front of me.

Then we were onto our fourth lap which meant everything for the last time. The double pole guy wasn’t too far in front of me. I could still see Jim, a little farther in front, and just barely in the long enough straight stretches, I could see Erik, too.

Now we were encountering a lot of traffic and I was starting to get tired and my right medial epicondylitis was beginning to flare. But the kilometers ticked by so fast and I was often passing skiers like they were standing still. As I broached the final climb off Mora Lake I saw that Margie had passed Sarah as we met at the 9th street road crossing. I felt securely in third but I kept up the pace and soon I was passing double pole guy. Erik saw me again at the north aid station. I was at least providing good motivation for him. I still tried to do a bit of cheering as I lapped skiers, sometimes double lapping them, but mostly I was getting tired and frustrated that a bunch of them were in the left track, which in my opinion was just a bit faster and also firmer for the pole plants. One guy jumped out of my way and I said thanks.

Before I knew it I was up and over Marshmallow Hill for the very last time and then came out to the last U before we headed south to the finish. I could see that Jim was closing on Erik and that I had made up just a bit of time on Erik in the last lap. Then it was into the finish and I was determined to keep up a strong double pole.

I’m sure I was tired at the end but it’s always invigorating to finish on the podium and I think I could have kept up that pace for awhile longer. I was stoked to take home my biggest payout to date but also just a bit melancholic that as I bridge my fifth decade in less than two weeks, my odds of getting that wreath around my neck are diminishing. I guess it’s a lesson to appreciate what I have and that I’m still getting faster and stronger even at my age. 

The Classic podium at Mora 2025.

As I posted recently, I’m getting older, but still on the chase. My lower paraspinal muscles always get insanely sore after Mora but his year they felt less so. And after tapering for Mora, I was able to jump into an intense training block, running 6 miles the day after Mora and then doing a full strength workout two days later, and then doing a long interval set three days later with Vakava. It’s taken a couple decades, but I’ve become a well-trained athlete, and that’s every bit as much success as my results on paper.