Training Log Archive: Ari-oIn the 31 days ending Jan 31, 2014:
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Friday Jan 31, 2014 #
Note
(rest day)
Rest/travel day. Waxed up the skis last night nice and good. HF blue over whatever gray moly I had, nice and shiny bases! Kick was Rode blue over binder. Should be fine for kick, hopefully it won't be too draggy on the new snow (I waxed a little bit short). Kind of flying by the seat of my pants since I get in at 8:30 and race barely twelve hours later, so whatever is on them now will maybe be touched up with the little bit of wax and a cork I brought, but I'm not bringing a whole new wax box. For the ski-o, just bringing my good pair of skis, which hopefully will be fine (Peter has said they will be) but I won't be skiing across any roads. But they're fast on cold, soft snow and guess what the Twin Cities just got six inches of? Cold, soft snow.
IOW, I am jealous of the Cities' snow this year so far (although not jealous of those days when it's -8 and you want to train but it's really too damn cold) but mitigate that with the fact that there's always the potential out there to have a dry, brown dreary winter where it's -8 with no snow. But holy moly the conditions this weekend should be epic; we'll see if I want to ski after the race on Sunday afternoon. I think it's a possibility!
IOW, I am jealous of the Cities' snow this year so far (although not jealous of those days when it's -8 and you want to train but it's really too damn cold) but mitigate that with the fact that there's always the potential out there to have a dry, brown dreary winter where it's -8 with no snow. But holy moly the conditions this weekend should be epic; we'll see if I want to ski after the race on Sunday afternoon. I think it's a possibility!
Thursday Jan 30, 2014 #
8 AM
Ski (Mostly no poles) 43:04 [1] 6.7 mi (6:26 / mi)
Last ski before Loppet weekend. Just a quick shake down this morning. Trails were ungroomed from last night and the ruts were all frozen, so it was a good balance work out with the no poles. Then put the poles on and did two laps of the track, one with hill pickups, one cool down.
Then I went to drive home. Usually, I figure that after 9 I can get to Cambridge in 20 minutes. Then I saw the stopped traffic on the ramp, checked out my phone, and reconsidered. Two MBTA buses had crashed downtown, and the Pike was backed up to Framingham. It would have been an hour-long crawl to Allston on the highway, but I made it back on Beacon Street in 30 minutes. WIN.
And now the requisite Weston grooming rant: when I was leaving the temperature was up to about 20 and they were going out to groom the trails. WHY?! The correct grooming would have been to, once the place shut down at 9 p.m., go out and groom then. You put in a nice base, and it sets up overnight when it's 10º. Then, in the morning, you have a nice, firm base that holds up through the day. If you groom in the morning, it's not cold enough to set the base up, and the first few skiers mash it to hell. Guys, it's not that hard! Don't groom in the morning if it's cold overnight. Gosh.
Then I went to drive home. Usually, I figure that after 9 I can get to Cambridge in 20 minutes. Then I saw the stopped traffic on the ramp, checked out my phone, and reconsidered. Two MBTA buses had crashed downtown, and the Pike was backed up to Framingham. It would have been an hour-long crawl to Allston on the highway, but I made it back on Beacon Street in 30 minutes. WIN.
And now the requisite Weston grooming rant: when I was leaving the temperature was up to about 20 and they were going out to groom the trails. WHY?! The correct grooming would have been to, once the place shut down at 9 p.m., go out and groom then. You put in a nice base, and it sets up overnight when it's 10º. Then, in the morning, you have a nice, firm base that holds up through the day. If you groom in the morning, it's not cold enough to set the base up, and the first few skiers mash it to hell. Guys, it's not that hard! Don't groom in the morning if it's cold overnight. Gosh.
Wednesday Jan 29, 2014 #
8 PM
Ski (Mostly double pole) 44:38 [1] 7.3 mi (6:07 / mi)
One lap of no poles, then four of double poling. Once the kiddos were all gone it was pretty nice. A few lessons to slalom, but not too bad. Listened to music for a while, and tried to attack a few of the hills. Double poling!
Tuesday Jan 28, 2014 #
6 PM
Ski warm up/down 13:48 [1] 2.3 mi (6:00 / mi)
Lollygagged around the ski track and got a short warm-up in. Didn't feel great, but that sometimes means nothing.
Ski race 18:09 [4] 4.8 mi (3:47 / mi)
Oh lawdy went hard today. Skis were fast on surprisingly soft and well-groomed snow. It was fast (assuming the distance, we were doing better than 4 minute miles). Kudos Weston (except for some corners which were icy). I jumped in to fifth and pretty quickly the pack thinned and it was four or five of us. Frank let a gap form and John took advantage; further back I couldn't do much about it. I jumped in front of Andy but couldn't catch John, but Andy and I gapped everyone else. It was a race for second and I drafted Andy and then beat him in the sprint. I think? We put down as tied. Best finish ever at Weston. Yay?
Ski warm up/down 17:20 [1] 2.6 mi (6:40 / mi)
Tooled around for a few minutes after the race. Felt good after going properly hard. Last hard anything until Saturday's madness!
Monday Jan 27, 2014 #
Note
Craftsbury: 4x12.5k
Loppet: 42k point-to-point
Travel time: 3:00 for each.
Loppet: 42k point-to-point
Travel time: 3:00 for each.
6 AM
Run 16:31 [2] 2.3 mi (7:11 / mi)
Quick run over to NP. Trailing other NPers most of the way.
Core 16:00 [1]
Core, with pushups, burpees, air squats and "hoisties" which are fun. With a partner, face them and cross arms, gripping hands. Then sit down and hoist each other up. Yelling "hoistie" each time is optional but encouraged.
Run hills 14:00 [2] 0.5 mi (27:59 / mi) +215m 11:59 / mi
Since I was at Porter, Porter Stairs! 8 flights before taking the train home. Hard. Fun.
Sunday Jan 26, 2014 #
Note
NEED TO TAPER.
I was pretty beat this weekend from three races. On Saturday, I will race 90+ kilometers in 30 hours. That's … insane. @AliC will be doing that too, so I'm not alone in my insanity.
Anyway, I need to remember to taper. Which means … no November project on Friday. Which means that if it's really cold, I won't go for a run. I just need to take it easy this week. I'll log a good 7 hours this weekend, there's no reason to be tired for that.
Oh, yeah, it's in Minneapolis.
I was pretty beat this weekend from three races. On Saturday, I will race 90+ kilometers in 30 hours. That's … insane. @AliC will be doing that too, so I'm not alone in my insanity.
Anyway, I need to remember to taper. Which means … no November project on Friday. Which means that if it's really cold, I won't go for a run. I just need to take it easy this week. I'll log a good 7 hours this weekend, there's no reason to be tired for that.
Oh, yeah, it's in Minneapolis.
9 AM
Ski race (Classic) 1:13:45 [3] 13.7 mi (5:23 / mi) +275m 5:04 / mi
After the day in Vermont, it was off to NH! Cold night with good friends at the OH, including some ski waxing there. The woodstove got the temperature up to 51, and then it dropped to 34 overnight despite coals. Of course, it was -5 when we woke up.
Race was shortened to eliminate anything on the fields where possible, which was fine, because it was quite windy. Wore lots of clothes and was dressed correctly, also nice. Start was frenetic because a) I was late b) it's self-seeded and c) they don't set enough tracks. This race really has potential, but needs some things changed. Like, more tracks at the start would be nice.
Anyway, I got a bad start but kicked by some people on the climb up the Yodel. I realized on the first few hills that my kick was very good, but my arm strength is lacking (or my legs are stronger, see Project, November and a year of running 2000 feet of stairs every week), and that a tall person in the wind doesn't do well double-poling. So I made up some time on the hills and then lost it on the flats.
I was in a group of three and reeling in a CSUer ahead. Not sure who it was until we caught him, hi Andy Milne! I tried to put some time on him going up the Wave but not enough, and we were at the front of a group. Coming back in to the downhill we made some significant gains on our group, which was nice. However, Andy stayed close enough to make some gains down in to the Yodel. The uphill there is too steep to kick and I wasn't gaining time herring boning (but my striding was fantastic, really happy with my wax and technique) and I was about 7 seconds behind him going in to the downhill. I gained most of that back down the hill; it's nice to know exactly how it skis, but couldn't quite catch him in the double pole, finishing 2 seconds behind.
29th overall, 10 minutes behind Eli, and a bunch of Dartmouth guys, too.
Race was shortened to eliminate anything on the fields where possible, which was fine, because it was quite windy. Wore lots of clothes and was dressed correctly, also nice. Start was frenetic because a) I was late b) it's self-seeded and c) they don't set enough tracks. This race really has potential, but needs some things changed. Like, more tracks at the start would be nice.
Anyway, I got a bad start but kicked by some people on the climb up the Yodel. I realized on the first few hills that my kick was very good, but my arm strength is lacking (or my legs are stronger, see Project, November and a year of running 2000 feet of stairs every week), and that a tall person in the wind doesn't do well double-poling. So I made up some time on the hills and then lost it on the flats.
I was in a group of three and reeling in a CSUer ahead. Not sure who it was until we caught him, hi Andy Milne! I tried to put some time on him going up the Wave but not enough, and we were at the front of a group. Coming back in to the downhill we made some significant gains on our group, which was nice. However, Andy stayed close enough to make some gains down in to the Yodel. The uphill there is too steep to kick and I wasn't gaining time herring boning (but my striding was fantastic, really happy with my wax and technique) and I was about 7 seconds behind him going in to the downhill. I gained most of that back down the hill; it's nice to know exactly how it skis, but couldn't quite catch him in the double pole, finishing 2 seconds behind.
29th overall, 10 minutes behind Eli, and a bunch of Dartmouth guys, too.
1 PM
Ski (Skate) 1:06:27 [1] 8.0 mi (8:18 / mi) +270m 7:31 / mi
Got dry, fed and warm and went out tooling around with Jess and Lincoln. The drone wasn't flying but the scenery was great. Put a few hard interval-y things in, but mostly took it easy. I need to taper this week for next week.
Saturday Jan 25, 2014 #
8 AM
Trail Run 28:00 [1] 1.8 mi (15:33 / mi)
Run out of Lonesome. Nice cruise down the trail, then a scamper across to Vermont for Ski-O. Started snowing on the drive, too!
10 AM
Ski-O race 1:05:17 [2] *** 9.0 mi (7:15 / mi) +258m 6:40 / mi
11c
Fun Ski-O up at Craftsbury. I'd never skied Craftsbury before, what fun trails! Really out in the middle of nowhere. I'm going off memory here and will put up controls in a bit (map board is in the car still), but a few things of note:
1. Ran a lot of the "snowshoe" trails. It was faster.
2. Lost a minute getting frozen snow out of my boot. Grr.
3. Paper punching is a pain.
But otherwise a great race. Went out right at the end of the envelope but finished in a bit more than an hour (don't have the time; using Strava). Goofed on one control overrunning a snowshoe trail by a little bit, but then made great time by skating across a lake. Everyone else was a local and knew all the trails, and I knew nothing, Lebowski.
Controls:
1. Easy to find down the hill.
2. Easy to find the little trail at the curve.
3. Overran the little trail but caught the hill to the right; went back and found it. May have been better going around on the big trail since the snowshoe trails were slow.
4. Up to the road then run through the woods.
5. Came down the trail around the building, back across the road. At the little pond at 5, I was able to skate straight across. Spike.
6. Should have gone back to the dashed trail, dotted trail around was slow. Caught the little trail and took off my skis for some running.
7. Ran up through the woods to the next control. Uphill DPing on branches was not worth it.
8. Spent a good bit of time (a minute?) deicing my binding. Skied to the further little trail and then ran straight (off trail) to the control. DPed on the dotted trail back to the big trail.
9. Long leg, apparently same route choice as everyone else. Down the long, gradual hill. Nice, but not too fast.
10. Punched, ran the hill, and then went to the left of the range. Apparently the big trail and power line was a secret option. Then went to the little trail and skated the lake. Apparently there's another unmapped secret trail that the locals used.
11. Good navigating back to the finish.
1. Ran a lot of the "snowshoe" trails. It was faster.
2. Lost a minute getting frozen snow out of my boot. Grr.
3. Paper punching is a pain.
But otherwise a great race. Went out right at the end of the envelope but finished in a bit more than an hour (don't have the time; using Strava). Goofed on one control overrunning a snowshoe trail by a little bit, but then made great time by skating across a lake. Everyone else was a local and knew all the trails, and I knew nothing, Lebowski.
Controls:
1. Easy to find down the hill.
2. Easy to find the little trail at the curve.
3. Overran the little trail but caught the hill to the right; went back and found it. May have been better going around on the big trail since the snowshoe trails were slow.
4. Up to the road then run through the woods.
5. Came down the trail around the building, back across the road. At the little pond at 5, I was able to skate straight across. Spike.
6. Should have gone back to the dashed trail, dotted trail around was slow. Caught the little trail and took off my skis for some running.
7. Ran up through the woods to the next control. Uphill DPing on branches was not worth it.
8. Spent a good bit of time (a minute?) deicing my binding. Skied to the further little trail and then ran straight (off trail) to the control. DPed on the dotted trail back to the big trail.
9. Long leg, apparently same route choice as everyone else. Down the long, gradual hill. Nice, but not too fast.
10. Punched, ran the hill, and then went to the left of the range. Apparently the big trail and power line was a secret option. Then went to the little trail and skated the lake. Apparently there's another unmapped secret trail that the locals used.
11. Good navigating back to the finish.
1 PM
Ski (Skate) 26:50 [1] 3.7 mi (7:15 / mi) +81m 6:47 / mi
Decided in between races to skate the race loop ahead of the college race. What a fun loop. I spent time ignoring control set up by thinking about course homologation. Then tooled around near the stadium watching the race. Ah, college racing!
3 PM
Ski-O race 31:19 [3] *** 4.3 mi (7:17 / mi) +122m 6:42 / mi
11c
UGH. This was a really fun race, but I mispunched. It's a good lesson—and better to mispunch here than, say, at Stowe—but it's just annoying. I partially blame the college race; I made a route choice which was mostly "don't scream down a hill that has racers coming up it" which took me by a later control, and I just thought "oh hey, control, I will punch you and then go to the next one." Forgot about the out-and-back from there. Would have easily had the win here—won most of the splits but just missed that control. And it meant I skied less than I could have. Boo.
A couple of notes. I well like the "go to a control, punch, stop for two to four seconds and plan your route" school. Also, running through the woods is probably the best idea at times, even when there is no trail. Long downhills that might be a slightly longer distance are probably better route choices since you can just fly down them, as opposed to rolling terrain followed by a steep downhill with intersections where you have to scrub speed (maybe less of an issue on a closed course, more of an issue when you're crossing college racers).
Controls:
1. A little confused since only six of the solar arrays are mapped.
2. Spiked the control in the middle of the field. E-punches on trees are hard to punch, though. Have to hold it with one hand.
3. Whee.
4. Easy to find off the trail.
5. Took the lower route through the range.
6. Got a little confused at the first junction which I read as the second junction, but quickly saw the terrain was off and reconned.
7. Mistake here. I planned to take the east-bound leg, but got on the northbound leg. This was rolling, then a right and a steep downhill. But both were the wrong route choice. Kestrel took the southbound leg/snowshoe trail which was all downhill, slightly longer but faster. Good route choice options!
8. Huff and puff uphill. Passed Allison here.
9/10. Was going to take a right but this would have meant going down a steep hill with racers coming up. So took a straight. This messed me up. I then wound up with a zigzag route choice instead of a straight downhill one. I lost time to Allison and had to pass her back, and then got to a control. Punch. Oh, and look, the next control is through the woods up a hill. What I forgot, having rejiggered my routing, was that I was actually supposed to go back to 9 and then come back to 10. Would have been 4 extra minutes, so I would have finished with time to spare. But I goofed. Spiked 11, skied to the finish, and DNFed. Ugh.
A couple of notes. I well like the "go to a control, punch, stop for two to four seconds and plan your route" school. Also, running through the woods is probably the best idea at times, even when there is no trail. Long downhills that might be a slightly longer distance are probably better route choices since you can just fly down them, as opposed to rolling terrain followed by a steep downhill with intersections where you have to scrub speed (maybe less of an issue on a closed course, more of an issue when you're crossing college racers).
Controls:
1. A little confused since only six of the solar arrays are mapped.
2. Spiked the control in the middle of the field. E-punches on trees are hard to punch, though. Have to hold it with one hand.
3. Whee.
4. Easy to find off the trail.
5. Took the lower route through the range.
6. Got a little confused at the first junction which I read as the second junction, but quickly saw the terrain was off and reconned.
7. Mistake here. I planned to take the east-bound leg, but got on the northbound leg. This was rolling, then a right and a steep downhill. But both were the wrong route choice. Kestrel took the southbound leg/snowshoe trail which was all downhill, slightly longer but faster. Good route choice options!
8. Huff and puff uphill. Passed Allison here.
9/10. Was going to take a right but this would have meant going down a steep hill with racers coming up. So took a straight. This messed me up. I then wound up with a zigzag route choice instead of a straight downhill one. I lost time to Allison and had to pass her back, and then got to a control. Punch. Oh, and look, the next control is through the woods up a hill. What I forgot, having rejiggered my routing, was that I was actually supposed to go back to 9 and then come back to 10. Would have been 4 extra minutes, so I would have finished with time to spare. But I goofed. Spiked 11, skied to the finish, and DNFed. Ugh.
Ski warm up/down 8:31 [1] 1.1 mi (7:45 / mi) +9m 7:33 / mi
Ski around a bit to cool down, then in to the car to Jackson. No good way to make that trip; two full hours from Craftsbury to Jackson. But more, because it was snowing, and people don't understand how to go down hills in snow (use your car's gearing, not your breaks). May have made some dangerous passes before Crawford to make sure to avoid sitting behind a spinout-waiting-to-happen in the Notch. May have gone 65 in the snow, too. No one told NHDOT to plow, either. But. Snow!
Friday Jan 24, 2014 #
Note
I took the bus and train to NP, which was the right choice. 14 minutes and then a walk up the hill. Last time it was cold when I biked there I got a little too warm going up the hill (have to overdress for the flats and then go up the hill) and then very, very cold on the ride home (starting out damp with a 1/2 mile coast downhill). I'm not averse to winter biking, but biking to a workout and then not having a full change of clothes (and somewhere warm to change) is a challenge. Less so for a flat ride to the stadium (which is out of commission until our next melt, which may not be for quite some time, but goddamn it's given me some good base) but a couple of miles with a big hill at 0º is more of an issue.
6 AM
November Project 32:00 [1] 2.1 mi (15:14 / mi) +168m 12:12 / mi
Run up the hill once, then a bunch of little hills at the top. Mostly sprints and bounds, one piggy back ride, and one crab walk. Cold!
Run 23:00 [1] 2.6 mi (8:51 / mi)
Run home from NP. Cold and slow. River is very frozen. Another week of this and a dusting of snow and you could probably ski from Watertown to Boston. Which would be EPIC.
10 PM
Trail Run (Pole hike) 25:59 [3] 1.8 mi (14:26 / mi) +308m 9:25 / mi
I love the Lonestar Roadside Inn. Whenever I need to stay in the Franconia Notch area, it's just as easy to run up the LLT, stay at Lonesome, and run out. Especially when it's packed snow in the winter and the lake is frozen. A little harder with a little ice, but otherwise, pretty damn nice. It's really easy to push hard up the hill, and with ski poles you work up a sweat. When I got in I was quite warm. It was about -10.
Thursday Jan 23, 2014 #
Ski 45:01 [1] 6.8 mi (6:37 / mi)
Meant to ski longer but got a later start than I meant to before a meeting. Really nice skiing, about 10º and sunny. Definitely necessitated dark sunglasses. And the showers at Weston have water pressure fo' sho'.
Wednesday Jan 22, 2014 #
6 PM
Ski (Classic) 27:20 [1] 3.8 mi (7:12 / mi)
Classic around Weston. Good kick except on the new snow. Would have gone longer but a) I was going back for a (non-occurring) StreetO and b) holy smokes there were about 1000 BKL kids out and it was basically impossible to stride. Note to self: don't ski at 6:30 on Wednesday.
Tuesday Jan 21, 2014 #
6 PM
Run warm up/down 15:00 [1] 1.2 mi (12:30 / mi)
Run from Riverside to Weston with ski bag. Some walking, but definitely got some warmth going.
Ski warm up/down (Freestyle) 7:00 [1] 0.7 mi (10:00 / mi)
Scraped my fast skis because SNOW and soft, then went out to ski, then realized that I'd left my glasses inside, so then skied back. Not much of a warm up.
Ski race 14:30 [4] 3.0 mi (4:50 / mi)
Worlds! Three loops of the funky new course which is relatively easy compared with the Mount Weston climbs of the past. I got boxed out of the start and was hanging out in 8thish place for a while. On the second lap I passed two guys in the HOLY COW mashed potatoes under a snow gun, and one of them tailed me for a while. On the final lap he caught up to me on the flats by the river, perhaps because I let him catch me. I then powered up the hill and he hung on but I got in front, and then slowed down a little to go in to a tuck down the final hill. Then fast V2 to drop him for the win. Lactate jumped up really quick, probably because I didn't really warm up. So fun to ski in the snow though!
Ski 49:42 [1] 6.0 mi (8:17 / mi)
Skied round and round Weston, slowly, with Anna, recovering from the race. Good times in the snow which is certainly coming down. Then got a ride home with Alex (yay!) to Waban, and the Green Line to a perfect 47 bus transfer home. 40 minutes door to door by car/train/bus. Not too shabby.
Monday Jan 20, 2014 #
6 AM
Run warm up/down 7:00 [2] 1.0 mi (7:00 / mi)
Running late to NP, I ran pretty fast, apparently, and made it in plenty of time.
November Project 18:00 [1] 1.5 mi (12:00 / mi) +43m 11:01 / mi
NP today was Stata circuits at MIT: big amphitheater stair jumps (box jumps, basically) and burpees. Burpees did not do good things for my elbows, but box jumps were fun.
6 PM
Ski (No Poles) 46:55 [1] 6.5 mi (7:13 / mi)
Round and round Weston for 45 minutes. No poles. Elbow, get better. Thanks for grooming, Weston, taking nice, fast hardpack and making it in to stupid sugar which is just going to freeze in to ruts so you have to groom again which you'll probably do again at the worst possible time. Hopefully it's snowing for Worlds tomorrow.
Sunday Jan 19, 2014 #
9 AM
Ski long (Freestyle) 2:43:25 [1] 20.5 mi (7:58 / mi) +651m 7:15 / mi
This was probably my sloggiest ski of the season. It was quite slow with about an inch of new snow over the grooming, but warm enough that it was wet powder it seemed. My skis were really very draggy. I skied out the Ellis V2ing down hills, then back and up the Hall Trail, hills were some of the fastest parts relatively because you have less glide. I basically double-poled or skated anything but the steepest of the hills, and only covered 33k but probably put in the effort of 50k. The snow will certainly help with conditions for the race next week (and so forth) but today they just made it really quite slow.
Ski (no poles) 50:06 [1] 5.3 mi (9:27 / mi) +173m 8:35 / mi
More really slow skiing. A couple of times I'd get some speed up where the new snow was scraped off by snowplowing and then hit some new snow and just come to a stop. My elbow was feeling janky so I decided to go no poles around the race course and up and down from town. Certainly not my fastest ski. Hopefully the elbow feels better.
Saturday Jan 18, 2014 #
1 PM
Ski (Freestyle) 1:09:17 [1] 9.2 mi (7:32 / mi) +300m 6:50 / mi
Up to Jackson for the ski. Snow was decent (but not great) and the drive was a little iffy, but then there wasn't snow falling there. Took a couple loops of the race course pushing some on the hills themselves, and getting my ski legs back under me; I haven't skied in more than a week. Unacceptable.
3 PM
Ski long (Freestyle) 2:24:12 [1] 18.7 mi (7:43 / mi) +411m 7:13 / mi
Went back out for a long skate later in the afternoon. Snow was quite slow with a little bit of light snow falling which was wet. On the way back I pounded the uphills, which worked well until I bonked hard, and then had a nice glide back in to town for dinner.
Friday Jan 17, 2014 #
Run hills 44:01 [2] 4.5 mi (9:47 / mi) +316m 8:02 / mi
Fun times at NP although if I am doing hills I need to work on doing the uphills more interval-y. DId some bounding on the grass at least.
Wednesday Jan 15, 2014 #
6 AM
Run hills 42:00 [3] 2.11 mi (19:54 / mi) +709m 9:44 / mi
Wow, pretty great NP this morning. Felt okay for the ride over, and then it was #Frogman1 day, which is great: 50 sections, 700m of climbing. So I started going up. I wound up in the fourth group of 10ish, so I had some passing and waiting, but after about 10 sections it began to break free. Then it was just up and down, up and down. I'd left my water at the start, but felt pretty okay. I had my jacket off by section 28 (11 sections in), and shirt off not long after, and only dropped about a half gallon of sweat the rest of the way. I didn't feel like I was going too fast but had a PR of 42 minutes for the 50, so I'm figuring that the vertical mile in two hours (114 sections) is within reach this spring.
7 PM
Run (StreetO) 41:26 [2] * 5.3 mi (7:49 / mi) +10m 7:46 / mi
spiked:12/13c
Fun run on my own map for StreetO1. Wound up goofing once by forgetting what street I was supposed to be running to, but otherwise ran pretty cleanly. Then had dinner and a beer, yum.
Run warm up/down 3:56 [1] 0.5 mi (7:52 / mi)
Run to StreetO
Tuesday Jan 14, 2014 #
Note
Was going to go to Weston Worlds. Then when it was monsooning, I decided not to. Because I didn't want to drive 45 minutes in traffic to ski a 12 minute race (as it turned out). Since I then would have to ski around in the rain, or go home, it seemed like a poor return on investment, and one that might result in illness or worse. So I bagged Weston and took a "day off." Now, can we have some friggin' snow?!
6 PM
Run 10:00 [1] 1.0 mi (10:00 / mi)
Ran to Whole Foods and back to get groceries for dinner. Chard, sweet potato fries (baked) and chicken sausage, yum.
Monday Jan 13, 2014 #
6 AM
Run warm up/down 10:00 [1] 1.4 mi (7:09 / mi)
Run to November Project.
Core 8:00 [2]
4 minutes of pushups (~80) and 4 minutes of air squats (~100). Push ups were pain.
Run warm up/down 9:00 [1] 1.0 mi (9:00 / mi)
And run home.
8 PM
Core (Rollerboard) 7:00 [2]
Quick rollerboard session
Sunday Jan 12, 2014 #
11 AM
Run 10:41 [1] 1.4 mi (7:38 / mi)
Time to go run with Alex. Didn't want to do the extra driving so I took the bus to the T. Bus didn't come, so I ran. Just made the train, then Alex was a little late and there was a fire at Riverside (not on the T, luckily).
12 PM
Trail Run long 2:13:00 [1] 13.9 mi (9:34 / mi) +277m 9:01 / mi
What happens when there's no snow worth skiing? Go for a long trail run! Met Alex and parked at Weston, and then ran with her and a friend (Stas?) mostly on trails all over Weston. Well, not all over, but enough looping and joggling to do more than a half marathon. Kept the pace slow and had to deal with some ice, but not bad for a trail run. Felt pretty good, and fun. Longer than we'd planned but that's okay by me.
3 PM
Orienteering 48:53 [1] ***** 2.9 mi (16:51 / mi) +38m 16:12 / mi
6c
And after a bunch of running, should you go and get things done at home and have a lie-down? Hell, no. Time to go orienteering in the Fells. Got dropped off at home, picked up Anna, and off to the races. Beat Alex/Brendan there and then went running with Dean off in to the woods. A memory exercise with me and Anna switching off the map, trying to remember the controls. Alex and Brendan went together elsewhere. We all went to 6 and then I had the map as Anna attempted to navigate by memory to 7. She wound up taking the map back as we got very lost on parallel errors, but made it after a bit. I then picked a pretty good route to 8 with some help from Dean looking for a reentrant, then Anna had a long run to 9 which she executed well. I then had an easy leg back to 4 (we cut some off since it was getting dark and we wanted a short workout) and spiked it from memory, then Anna led a more difficult leg to a control that was nicely framed by two big boulders; it's nice when the terrain matches the map. Then home to make pizza.
Saturday Jan 11, 2014 #
Run 43:11 [2] 5.6 mi (7:43 / mi)
Stupid rain. Not worth Weston when it's 55. And not worth driving north to freezing rain and slush. Longfellow run complete with some 30 and 60 second pick-ups. Pick-up miles were sub-7; sub-6 during the speed.
Friday Jan 10, 2014 #
Run hills 43:10 [2] 5.0 mi (8:38 / mi) +310m 7:14 / mi
After an unplanned day off (the Aurora didn't make an appearance, so no late night drive/ski) I hit NP this morning. And I felt horrible. Sometimes I feel horrible because it's 6:00 and I'm awake, but when I start running I feel great. Today? Not so much. I started out feeling like I'd been gastrointestinally punched in the stomach. The hills were struggles, but I made it through 5 miles in 45 minutes or so. And then had a cold ride home. So cold that my hands were frozen and I had to thaw them out which always makes my whole body feel awful.
So things can only go up from here, right? Oh, wait, it's raining this weekend (boo).
So things can only go up from here, right? Oh, wait, it's raining this weekend (boo).
Wednesday Jan 8, 2014 #
6 AM
Run warm up/down 12:00 [1] 1.4 mi (8:34 / mi)
Run over to the stadium for, well, for stadiums. 4º. River very frozen, but decided to play it safe and not cut across it.
Run hills 27:00 [3] 1.5 mi (18:00 / mi) +453m 9:17 / mi
40 sections of 24 steps, then one at the end for good measure. Started out cold, then took off jacket, hat, buff, gloves. Then at then end I stripped off my base layer which promptly froze solid (with my buff). Stood steaming for a while and put on two wool hoodies and a hat and made my way slowly back to get my jacket. Still, I'll take it over 75º.
Run warm up/down 15:00 [1] 1.4 mi (10:43 / mi)
Slow jog home, going just fast enough to keep from getting colder, but not so fast as to sweat any more.
Tuesday Jan 7, 2014 #
6 PM
Ski warm up/down (Skate) 13:07 [1] 2.0 mi (6:33 / mi)
Warming up for the Tuesday Night Worlds. Barely warm, with lots of clothes on.
Ski race (Skate) 13:58 [3] 3.0 mi (4:39 / mi)
First Tuesday Night Worlds of the season! I felt I had to go. 10˚, windy, and icy trails with patches of soft new manmade snow. So, typical Weston. I went in not expecting to have fun and I didn't, so I met expectations, which is … good?
I started in the fourth row and pretty quickly moved up to latch on to the back of the seven-strong lead pack. With the construction the race course is different—not really more interesting, just different. Three laps of the just-about-mile-long course. The two back guys in the pack fell off after a bit longer and since I was behind them I couldn't really pass. We skied together and put a bunch of distance between ourselves and folks behind us, but didn't really catch back up to the front or to the guy who had fallen off the front.
I wasn't really in a mood to try too hard, because trying hard on Weston ice often means taking a digger on to Weston ice. I traded the lead off but lost a little contact in to the last bit of soft new snow (yay for clear glasses, boo for scuffing up said lenses when I dropped them later, yay for having five sets of lenses including a yellow set) and figured I'd finish in 7th. Then on the V2 sprint one of the guys in front of me yardsaled, and I sailed in to 6th place.
Next week maybe I'll stay with the lead pack. Weston races are funny, you have to go out hard and then stay with a pack, but they're so damn short. It would be nice to have a bit more snow. And hills.
Casualties include my glasses and my phone, which was in my jacket pocket but was thrown in towards a bush and apparently met something hard enough to break some glass. Might be another trip to the iPhone doctor.
I started in the fourth row and pretty quickly moved up to latch on to the back of the seven-strong lead pack. With the construction the race course is different—not really more interesting, just different. Three laps of the just-about-mile-long course. The two back guys in the pack fell off after a bit longer and since I was behind them I couldn't really pass. We skied together and put a bunch of distance between ourselves and folks behind us, but didn't really catch back up to the front or to the guy who had fallen off the front.
I wasn't really in a mood to try too hard, because trying hard on Weston ice often means taking a digger on to Weston ice. I traded the lead off but lost a little contact in to the last bit of soft new snow (yay for clear glasses, boo for scuffing up said lenses when I dropped them later, yay for having five sets of lenses including a yellow set) and figured I'd finish in 7th. Then on the V2 sprint one of the guys in front of me yardsaled, and I sailed in to 6th place.
Next week maybe I'll stay with the lead pack. Weston races are funny, you have to go out hard and then stay with a pack, but they're so damn short. It would be nice to have a bit more snow. And hills.
Casualties include my glasses and my phone, which was in my jacket pocket but was thrown in towards a bush and apparently met something hard enough to break some glass. Might be another trip to the iPhone doctor.
Monday Jan 6, 2014 #
Note
So, if I run 5.5 miles this afternoon, I will have run/skied 100 miles in the past week. This is likely to happen. (I guess I could ski it in slush at Weston. Not likely to happen.)
6 PM
Run 44:17 [2] 5.6 mi (7:54 / mi)
And a run to Trader Joes makes 100 miles (bike and ski) in the past week. Hooray! Actually, I had planned to run the Longfellow and then wound up on the Harvard Bridge. Whoops. Ran in to the wind, turned around, back across to Cambridge, then to the store, then home.
Sunday Jan 5, 2014 #
9 AM
Ski (Classic (backcountryish)) 51:09 [1] 6.6 mi (7:45 / mi)
Had a very pleasant night at Zealand, not cold at all. After breakfast and sundries (like sunrise viewing and snowy waterfall) I got ready to head out for MORE SKIING. Goal was to get out in an hour. I ran down the Doozy, falling in two feet of powder a couple of times. Then put on my skis for the glide out. You notice on skis that it's nearly all gradually downhill, even when on foot it seems level. I did have to arrest my speed and take the skis off a few times, leading to 10 minute miles for the first 2.5. Then I got to the glide out and the speed went up. The last four miles took 22 minutes, with some furious double poling. I swung down the last hill by some uphill goofers and stopped to check my watch: well under an hour. So I made it to the car in 55:00 elapsed. 51:00 of moving time (spent some time unlayering, taking pictures, peeing, etc). Great!
11 AM
Ski long (Skating) 2:01:01 [2] 17.7 mi (6:50 / mi) +634m 6:09 / mi
An hour later, I was in Jackson. I texted George and told him my plans, and he joined, justifying it by "being on patrol" or something. Conditions were pretty much perfect. Cold, hard powder, groomed very well. Out the Ellis and up to Hall (big hill #1) then up the Hall trail (#2) and over Maple (#3) which we came screaming down. Then up Popple (#4) and through sketchy area #1, where George described it as "black diamond—WITH MOGULS" which was the case. It's good to know the sketchiness, so you can scrub speed readily.
From there we put our jackets back on for the 600 foot descent down to Rocky Branch (one mile clocked at 2:29, or an average speed of 24 mph). Sketchy area #2 was 100m which was ungroomed along the river. If Jackson could fix those two areas, the trail would be perfect. As such, even with 3 feet of snow—and there's more snow there than anywhere else I saw—it's a bit rough in a couple of places. George was late to teach a lesson so we pushed the pace a bit on the way back, nice at the end of a two hour, 30k ski (with more elevation than the Birkie).
It was so goddamn nice. This reminds me why I love skiing more than anything.
Then, lunch.
From there we put our jackets back on for the 600 foot descent down to Rocky Branch (one mile clocked at 2:29, or an average speed of 24 mph). Sketchy area #2 was 100m which was ungroomed along the river. If Jackson could fix those two areas, the trail would be perfect. As such, even with 3 feet of snow—and there's more snow there than anywhere else I saw—it's a bit rough in a couple of places. George was late to teach a lesson so we pushed the pace a bit on the way back, nice at the end of a two hour, 30k ski (with more elevation than the Birkie).
It was so goddamn nice. This reminds me why I love skiing more than anything.
Then, lunch.
3 PM
Ski (Skating) 1:23:31 [1] 11.5 mi (7:16 / mi) +303m 6:43 / mi
I wasn't planning much skiing in the afternoon but it was just. so. nice. Went out to the Wave and skied the 5k course. I felt really slow on the way up but really good on the course itself. Not really fast, but really smooth, especially for being tired. I do quite like the course, too. Then I went round and round all the fields north of there. With a bridge across, there's probably enough terrain to set a fun ski-o up on the wave course, and then through all the fields where you could certainly groom in a maze. Then up to the top of the Whitney, and down to the village. It had cooled down some and sped up, although the janky temperatures would have been interesting for classic. And home, via my car doing something weird which may have been a loose gas cap.
About 80k for the weekend, including 20k "backcountry" with a pack, 8k racing, and a lot of long skating.
About 80k for the weekend, including 20k "backcountry" with a pack, 8k racing, and a lot of long skating.
Saturday Jan 4, 2014 #
1 PM
Ski warm up/down (Classic) 12:00 [1] 1.6 mi (7:30 / mi) +29m 7:06 / mi
A couple of loops of the "warm up" lap that doesn't spend to much time on the race course since the women were going already. I'd run late (but it was really cold, so I probably wouldn't have wanted to ski that much more anyway) and made it in more than enough time for my slightly delayed start.
Ski race (Bogburn!) 53:00 [3] 7.9 mi (6:43 / mi) +262m 6:05 / mi
Bogburn! So glad I did this. I did it last year and, well, the snow worked out and there were great conditions this year. I had no idea what to expect—last year I was pretty slow—but decided I'd go out and do it as a "training race" and not try to beat anyone.
Then I got seeded 15 seconds after Andy Milne. The guy who runs Tuesday Night at Weston. So those plans were scrapped.
I hadn't waxed my skis or anything—the whole not really caring thing—and slapped some Rode blue on to the skis. Anything would kick in this. The 210cm powder skis were perfect for the powder track, and the trail was great. Quick warm up and I ran to the car to get a sock to stuff down my pants and then we were off!
I started fast and caught Andy before the first set of swooping downhills, then backed off because those are good hills to fall on (I did that last year). Then I decided that since I'd already made up 15 seconds on him and I wasn't all that confident of the trail, I'd just tail him for a while. What a nice guy I am. We passed a number of other skiers, which was nice, and the trail was pretty much perfect all the way around. There aren't many of these old-school narrow classic races around anymore (the Erik Judeen at Korkii in Duluth is similar) and it's such fun. Although I would hate to do this on icy trails.
Hit the lap and I decided it was time to pass Andy. I grunted by and then poured on some hill to get separation, although I'd never really get out of sight. I passed a few more people, and got passed by a few (but not too many) and then glided in to the finish.
A quick cool-down loop—car was still reading 9˚—and I left. Said hi to Alex who said "wow not much of a cool down for you" and I told her I was going to ski 10k uphill in to the woods. Because I was.
(Haven't seen any results for this, but last year I was 7:30 and 23 spots behind Andy, this year I beat him by half a minute.)
And results are up. Came 19th vs 40th last year. 1:00 off winning my age class, even. 4:30 better than last year, while most skiers (except Chris Stock, who flew by me in the second lap) added time. Again, not really trying (no glide wax, not that it really mattered). Weird. Maybe I'm faster this year?
Then I got seeded 15 seconds after Andy Milne. The guy who runs Tuesday Night at Weston. So those plans were scrapped.
I hadn't waxed my skis or anything—the whole not really caring thing—and slapped some Rode blue on to the skis. Anything would kick in this. The 210cm powder skis were perfect for the powder track, and the trail was great. Quick warm up and I ran to the car to get a sock to stuff down my pants and then we were off!
I started fast and caught Andy before the first set of swooping downhills, then backed off because those are good hills to fall on (I did that last year). Then I decided that since I'd already made up 15 seconds on him and I wasn't all that confident of the trail, I'd just tail him for a while. What a nice guy I am. We passed a number of other skiers, which was nice, and the trail was pretty much perfect all the way around. There aren't many of these old-school narrow classic races around anymore (the Erik Judeen at Korkii in Duluth is similar) and it's such fun. Although I would hate to do this on icy trails.
Hit the lap and I decided it was time to pass Andy. I grunted by and then poured on some hill to get separation, although I'd never really get out of sight. I passed a few more people, and got passed by a few (but not too many) and then glided in to the finish.
A quick cool-down loop—car was still reading 9˚—and I left. Said hi to Alex who said "wow not much of a cool down for you" and I told her I was going to ski 10k uphill in to the woods. Because I was.
(Haven't seen any results for this, but last year I was 7:30 and 23 spots behind Andy, this year I beat him by half a minute.)
And results are up. Came 19th vs 40th last year. 1:00 off winning my age class, even. 4:30 better than last year, while most skiers (except Chris Stock, who flew by me in the second lap) added time. Again, not really trying (no glide wax, not that it really mattered). Weird. Maybe I'm faster this year?
Ski warm up/down (Classic) 7:00 [1] 0.7 mi (10:00 / mi) +13m 9:27 / mi
And a cool down loop.
5 PM
Ski long (Classic) 1:31:33 [1] 6.6 mi (13:52 / mi) +377m 11:47 / mi
Ski in to Zealand! The trail was in pretty darned good shape, certainly the first four miles up the road. Double poling with a 20 pound pack is a bit tricky, but doable. And striding is kind of fun too. Beautiful in the dark with snow dripping off the trees, just very nice. The trail in had a few rough spots and I had to slow down some and take my skis off, but it was nice. Got in not far behind Beo, who I was going to visit. And, uh, made it in in about 1:30, he took four hours with a sled. Then, food!
Friday Jan 3, 2014 #
5 AM
Ski 43:30 [1] 3.4 mi (12:48 / mi) +84m 11:53 / mi
Skied over to NP. Decent street skiing, until I got to the hill, at which point it was just salted enough to make it crappy. Oh, well. Took some turns down the park which was legit. Then got ready to run and shovel.
Run hills 34:41 [1] 2.9 mi (11:58 / mi) +156m 10:15 / mi
Running up and down the NP hill, shoveling everyone's sidewalks and driveways.
November Project (Snow shovel spice) 17:00 [1]
SHOVEL TIMES!
Ski 37:09 [1] 2.9 mi (12:49 / mi)
Skiing home. Well, walking down the hill, then skiing. Street skiing still okay in the last of the snow.
Thursday Jan 2, 2014 #
Note
Today in things that are pretty obvious when you think about them for a second: when you log more hours than you sleep (and drive 5 hours to ski) even if you then sleep 9 hours, you're going to feel a bit odd the next day.
Ski 15:00 [1] 1.5 mi (10:00 / mi)
Just toodling around to the grocery stores. Best street skiing will be overnight but I need my sleep.
Wednesday Jan 1, 2014 #
6 AM
Run warm up/down 11:00 [1] 1.5 mi (7:20 / mi)
Oh god why do I do this? 3 hours of sleep, stairs. Oh, jesus.
Run hills 34:00 [2] 1.5 mi (22:40 / mi) +473m 11:27 / mi
Hangover time running up and down stairs. Did. It.
Run 14:00 [1] 1.5 mi (9:20 / mi)
Slow. Run. Home.
2 PM
Ski (Skate) 1:07:54 [2] 9.2 mi (7:23 / mi) +284m 6:44 / mi
What to do on 3 hours of sleep? Drive to the nearest good skiing (Waterville) and ski up and down hills. I skied to the top of Snow's mountain via Livermore. Not too shabby, but certainly could use a touch-up of snow. On the way down I did some great V2 intervals; that road is just the right gradient for hard V2 (at least when it's cold, slow powder like today). Chilly out; luckily I had a bunch of clothes to change in to at the car, and I found a bag of hats I'd bought this fall (half off!) so dry hats!
4 PM
Ski (Classic) 1:15:00 [2] 8.3 mi (9:02 / mi) +335m 8:02 / mi
So my iPhone crapped out—went from 65% to 0—maybe because it was cold. I started out up Upper Osceola before it got dark and came screaming down there, good times! Then I got back to Tripoli and decided to go up that, too, and turn around when I got tired/bonky. I was pretty well bundled up since it was maybe 10 degrees and dropping. All buffed out with a fleece and wool hoodie under my jacket. It seemed they were grooming the trail, an odd choice given several inches of snow to come tomorrow. But I wasn't going to argue with a new track (although it wasn't great, but it froze up real quick) and corduroy for the downhill. I got near the top and to the turnaround and then took the chilly ride home. When there was a track, I tucked. I'd love to go down this on fast snow on skate skis and Strava and get some <3 minute miles in. When there was no track it was wide enough to drop a knee on my 210 cm classic skis (!) and that kept me a bit warmer, too. I glided in to the bottom and again stripped in the car to dry clothes. In 24 hours I created an entire load of laundry.
I found a Subway and all subs are $5 this month, which is very helpful because I tend to wind up in Subways a little too often driving around to go skiing. Then I drank 10 oz of coke on the way home because goddamnit I did this on three hours of sleep and I'm not a caffeine addict.
I found a Subway and all subs are $5 this month, which is very helpful because I tend to wind up in Subways a little too often driving around to go skiing. Then I drank 10 oz of coke on the way home because goddamnit I did this on three hours of sleep and I'm not a caffeine addict.