Nice Weather
· Jun 9, 06:29 PM
We’ve had some really phenomenal weather here recently. Rain for 3 or 4 days last week including a couple of good thunderstorms. But that was nothing compared to this afternoon. Today was one of those rain-and-hail-bouncing-off-the-pavement-and-the-sky-turns-dark-at-2pm sort of storms. Awesome.
Spring Time
· Apr 19, 03:37 PM
Sorry to have been away from the posting for a while. I got myself a twitter account, and while I can’t say I’ve been prolific, the little bit of muttering I’ve done has seemed to sap the energy I would normally devote to the blog. Or it could just be that I’m lazy.
Today was the second warm day of spring here in Bend, though with temps heading above 80 tomorrow, it might be less like spring and more like summer. In fact the whole week has been pretty nice, and I’ve been able to get out and enjoy it a little. I got in two days of Alpine skiing (trying hard to make the spring path worth the $129, I haven’t figured out what my goal should be in terms of runs or vertical, but since Bachelor let’s me track both, I figure a goal is in order… please offer suggestions in the comments), a short run (did my legs ever feel shaky after that one!) a crust ski on the Bachelor trails yesterday and a bike ride today. Pretty excellent really.
I think tomorrow I may try to re-acquaint myself with paddling in preparation of the upcoming multi-sport event that grips Bend with a wild fever. If anyone has or knows of a TT bike in town for me to borrow, I’m all ears.
Back to work this week, and I’ll do my best to stay active. Training starts up again for real in about 10 days, so it would be good to be ready. Just have to come up with a good plan for the year between now and then.
Of Jet-lag and sore throats
· Oct 11, 04:14 PM
Training-wise my trip home was pretty much a success right up until the last two days when I picked up a bit of a sore throat. I spent most of Monday and Tuesday morning convincing myself that it was just something in the air and that I was actually fine. Then I went out and warmed up for the roller ski TT, and things weren’t looking so good. When I saw my HR at 160 just skiing up the first climb, I began to think that maybe I didn’t need a TT after all. If it was a big race I could have gone, but no point in getting actually sick for a test.
Since I got back to Bend on Wednesday things have been up and down on the sore throat front, but I seem to have turned a corner in the last day. Nothing in my nose anymore and it hasn’t migrated to my lungs, so I hope I’m coming around. I’m heading over to Corvallis for our intensity camp hoping that I’ll be able to get one or two good workouts in.
It’s nice to be back on the west coast, because it makes staying up for the Red Sox playoff games much easier (I am ready to stop waking up at 6 though). I have a bit of a bone to pick with MLB for giving the ALCS TV rights to TBS (which does not come through the air!), but I can live okay with the audio package.
Smoked Out
· Jul 4, 05:52 PM
I thought of titling this post “July”, but then people might get the idea that I’m only posting once a month! Wouldn’t want to tie myself down to such unrealistic deadlines…
It looks like it’s been a little while since I posted any pictures, so let’s get those out of the way first. A couple from the Elk Lake camp where we wrapped up the on-snow portion of the 07-08 season. It wasn’t exactly good skiing on June 25th, but come on, look at the date, that makes seven solid months of skiing for me!
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)!