Tips for a Succesful Boulder Tour

by Tessa Westbrook & Sam Young

Tessa Westbrook was an Olympian in 2002 and a former World Cup ski racer. She currently coaches and teaches in Sun Valley, Idaho. Tessa now uses her endurance talents to ski secret stashes of back-country powder, but she won't tell us where?

By this time of the year you have logged hundreds of hours of interval training and thousands of kilometers of double poling and ski specific strength, right? OK well maybe not, but there are still a few things you can do to ensure that you have a great Boulder Tour(check out the Boulder Tour in Google Earth: here ) or other ski marathon.

Follow the tips below to prepare your mind, body, and equipment for a personal best race experience.

1. Take it easy the week before the race. Try to keep your workouts under 1-1.5 hours and do one workout where you work on your speed like 5 sprints of 15 seconds. Make sure on race day you feel rested and excited to push yourself.

2. Get plenty of sleep the week before the race. Try for the typical eight hours a night, but if you can get more do it. Getting plenty of sleep in the week leading up to race ensures that if you are excited or nervous the night before the race you will still be well rested for a good performance on race day.

3. 3 days before your race focus on getting lots of high quality carbs in your diet. Choose fruit as a snack over candy or chips. Some dinner ideas include rissotto, Roasted or Baked potatoes, Ribbolitta (Italian Bread Soup) recipe here, and of course there is always pasta. By eating a reasonable amount of carbohydrate a few days before the race, your glycogen stores will be topped off to fuel a successful performance on Saturday.

4. Don't waste a lot of mental energy worrying about which wax to use or if your poles are light enough. Get a good wax recommendation and go with it, make sure you have ski clothing to match the temperature on race day. Many races have been won on less than perfect skis. People have had top 20 finishes in the Boulder skiing with no poles, yes I said no poles.

5. Carry a water bottle of your favorite sport drink and set a timer on watch to go off every 15 to 20 minutes. This will go a long ways to making sure you are hydrated and fueled up for your entire race.

6. Relax and Have Fun! You will ski faster if you are relaxed and focused on staying positive. The fate of the entire free world does not depend on your race result. There are so many benefits to doing a ski marathon, I can't even list them all. Give yourself a pat on the back and have a great race!

Delicious Affordable Soup

Here is a great recipe for Ribollita (Italian bread soup). This soup is delicious, nutritious, and the ingredients are all very affordable. Give it a try and I think you'll find yourself being excited about having stale bread around the house.



Ingredients:
1/2 Red Onion
1/2 Yellow or white onion
2 Carrots
1 stick celery
2 cloves garlic
pinch fennel seeds
pinch chili
pinch oregano
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 small bunch of chopped kale
2 14oz cans cannellini beans
2 handfuls stale bread
5-7 cups water
Salt and Pepper to taste

Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese

Finely chop your onions, celery, carrots, and the stalks of your kale
Saute these in olive oil over very low heat for 10 to 20 minutes. Be sure not to brown the vegetables. If you want to impress your significant other, tell them the step is called soffritto. It means slowly frying the vegetables and will give you a great base for your soup.

Once you have finished your soffritto, add your fennel, chili, oregano, and canned tomatoes. Gently simmer for a few minutes. Stir in your chopped kale and cannellini beans.

Tear up your bread and moisten with some hot water. Add it to your soup with the rest of the water. Adjust the consistency as desired. The soup is meant to be hearty, silky, and thick. Continue to gently simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with a splash of olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper.
This is a great soup to fuel your next outdoor adventure.