Kris Freeman

Tomorrow Kris starts his first race of the year in a FIS race in Muonio, Finland, against what looks like a full World Cup field. Norway and Sweden have their own races this weekend, with some Swiss skiers racing in Norway and Canadians in Sweden. The rest of the world is in Muonio.

Yesterday Kris did some light intensity - something to fire off the motor and get things running well. He felt a bit sluggish starting out, as would be expected for week 1 in Europe, but he felt that the efforts were good. There was a huge amount of traffic on the tracks at the time. There is a 14 minute loop, and four minutes of it were being used for yesterday’s sprint race, leaving everybody else a small amount of space for training. Between that and the format of the session Kris’s peak HR only got up to 164 beats per minute, but in a similar session prior to his final Sunapee hill climb he only managed to hit 167. The pace on these needs to be contained near 15K race pace - the point is to not overload the system and get fatigued. It’s an activation workout.

Kris’s insulin sensitivity is running pretty low right now. This has been a pattern when he travels, and it’s one of the challenges associated with travel. But the Omnipod has made it easier to regulate since he can change his basal dose anytime. With injections he was putting a 12 or 24 hour dose in him, with little opportunity to change. His dosing plan for tomorrow’s race is right in line with what he’s tested in practice, but it’s on the high end of the doses that he’s used, considering his high basal dose.

Expectations for tomorrow are modest. Kris has never been at his best on his first full weekend in Europe. It generally takes two to three weeks to get really settled and reach top speed. Given the strength of the field a top-20 in tomorrow’s 15K skate would be fine news, and a top-10 would be a surprise. Last year in the Beitostolen FIS opener Kris was 20th against a weaker field. A top-20 tomorrow in Muonio would be a good bet for a top-30 performance on the World Cup - a good first race effort.

So far the travel and transition to snow has gone well. Kris is healthy an fit. As long as he stays healthy he’ll have some excellent races in the next five weeks. Tomorrow should not be the best of them.