Welcome to Spring
· Apr 6, 09:36 PM
It’s spring here in Central Oregon, which does not mean crust skiing, mountain biking, boating, climbing or any other outdoor recreation – it means winter. I went up to the mountain today to see how the snow pack was holding up, and I’m pleased to report it’s doing just fine. The snowbanks down low are gone, but current base depth at the XC lodge is only 165 inches. We should have skiing for a few more months. Too bad we’re going to only have grooming for another week or so…
Anyways, today was my first ski since the 50k that ended the ‘08 season. It was pretty fun. I was on rock skis, because all I brought down from Canada were my warm skis. At the time, I was thinking that since it was spring it would be a good chance to get to know my klister skis since we didn’t have much klister skiing this winter. Good idea in theory, but it didn’t really pan out today. I skied on Special Violet covered with Super Extra, and the only problems I had getting kick were from snow shear, not any sort of glazing.
It snowed hard while I was skiing, on and off. When it wasn’t snowing it was sunny. The clouds were moving incredibly fast. The only bummer was that while I skied from 9:30 to 11 the groomer was working on Oli’s, Leslie’s and Divecka’s and they were all roped off. So no lower trails – too bad. It was actually very nice to be skiing (err, shuffling) along in a snowstorm though.
I have a bone to pick with ODOT too. Yesterday was the mandatory, required by law, take off your studded tires or else day. (My studs aren’t very good, but the tread pattern is a little better at dealing with snow than my all seasons). Today I was in a line of cars going up to Bachelor, and most people were sliding around the corners. It was a little disconcerting.
That’s about all for now. Maybe I’ll have some pictures sometime soon.
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Recovery Week
· Mar 30, 03:59 PM
It’s now been a week since my season finished with 50k in the Callaghan Valley. Since then the closest thing I’ve done that resembles training is riding my bike to work. And I’ve only done that once – on the day there wasn’t snow in town. It’s definitely been a week of inactivity, but one I certainly needed. I’ve been getting in some time at the office (off today though) and not doing much else.
The good news is I’m starting to feel a little bored and antsy. I almost have some spring in my step. I barely feel my legs walking up stairs anymore, and in another few days I might be ready for a little bit of activity. The only goals I have for the next month (April) are to get totally recovered and be ready to go at the beginning of May when it’s time to get ready for next year.
Right now I’m watching live splits of the 50k in Fairbanks. Not wishing that I was racing at all, but Violett’s having a good one, at least through the first 25. If he holds on he’ll be National Champ, which would be pretty cool!
Random Pictures
· Jan 11, 01:28 PM
From the last month. Mostly snowy because I know everybody in the east is a little hurting right now. We’re getting dumped on, and I’ve skied the last two days. Definitely not ready for the Nordeen, but I will be ready to have my revenge on Mt. Itasca (it’s been a long time coming)!
Baby Steps
· Jan 9, 01:09 PM
I went to bed Sunday night thinking I’d successfully kicked my cold. I had sinus pressure all day watching the sprint relays, but things had moved out of my throat, which is always a good sign. I went to bed pretty early (missed Lars’s birthday party for the sake of my health!) and promptly woke up with sinus pressure and a sore throat and some stuff in my lungs. Not cool.
I combined that feeling with some 30 hours of travel to get back to Bend (a night in San Francisco with Oakley was part of that), which sounds awful, but since I keep getting voicemails from United’s rebooking service (which still thinks I’m in Wausau, WI) because they keep canceling flights, I’m feeling alright about it. Anyways, the combination was not something to make me feel good about anything yesterday afternoon.
But, this morning I woke up with no sinus pressure and no sore throat. I’m still a little stuffed up and I definitely still have crap in my lungs, but this feels much better. One more day off then I think I can do some easy training for the rest of the week. The Nordeen is out for this weekend. It’s time for redemption in the midwest.
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In Between
· Jan 2, 02:34 PM
I wrote up yesterday’s race and have the post all ready to go. Only trouble is it’s on my laptop and I’m not. We’re at MTU using their free internet, and my temporary password hasn’t authorized yet. So instead of posting from my computer, I’m struggling away on a Windows 2000 era public computer with no picture access and a lousy keyboard. It’s a Compaq. Do they even exist as a company any more?
So I’m not going to re-write the post – it’s just going to be delayed going up. The very short version is yesterday was a big relief and good for my confidence. I’m ready to get after it tomorrow. I feel pretty decent today, like I may have recovered alright too.
It’s finally stopped snowing, but it was snowing buckets most of the day today. Still really light stuff, but it was making the Super Extra ice when I stepped out of the track. That’s not a real common experience. 15ks tomorrow, with only about 2.5 of them being restful. Gonna have to suffer I think.
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Not Always Easy
· Dec 22, 03:20 PM
I find it pretty easy to come up with blog posts when things are going well. Training is usually interesting enough to write about, and it’s easy to talk about races and tests when they’re good – or bad – as long as there’s a reason. That said, December has been tough. I’ve done three races, and the only one that was anywhere close to expectations was the one I don’t care about (the classic sprint in Bozeman). The other two have been 15K skates, and they’ve been downright bad.
Comment [3]
Resting up
· Dec 2, 02:32 PM
I’ve been a little lazy. I went to fill in my training log (I have an Excel spreadsheet, which I’ve been very good about using this year) and was faced with three weeks of blank space. Back in the early years of training logging (high school) this would have been no problem, but my memory just isn’t what it used to be. So I’m going to have to do a little more head scratching before I figure out where I am. But I think I’ve cleared 500 hours.
Today is a rest day. It’s pretty nasty here in Bend. Snowing lightly and very, I mean very windy. Unpleasant to be outside. So not a bad day for a day off. Tomorrow I’m planning a TT in what looks like rainy conditions. But, there’s racing this weekend and this is no time to slack off. I felt really good doing intervals on Wednesday and not bad doing speeds on Friday, so things seem to be coming together.
I was going to watch some football this afternoon but the wind and snow seem to be causing havoc with the through the air transmissions that I rely on. So it might have to be The Wire or something else. We shall see.