Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Back hills, and stairs. Doing a little extra on each to make sure I got to the top and bottom.

Run off to go around Fresh Pond. Didn't feel great but threw down some decent miles, and some good sprints gunning for lights (some of which I made). Time to start running more; ankle feeling better. Or maybe skiing this weekend.

Stadium, with a little snow left in places. Did not feel very ducky after a day of travel and a little jetlag.

Early run down the streets of Calgary to find November Project.

Bear crawls, climbing, box jumps, dips, push ups. NP Mondays make you hurt on Tuesdays no matter what city you're in.

Run along the C-Train at rush hour to see how cities can plan transit well. In other countries.

C • Other places 1

So we stayed in Canmore. Got dinner and beers, then went to the bar in our cheap motel. Which was filled to the brim with Canadian skiers (mostly in the 18-22 range) since Canadian nationals finished yesterday in Canmore. Had a few drinks, made some friends, and went to bed later than planned.

Sunday was planned for gravity skiing at Lake Louise (not logged, but a total bluebird day, pretty good snow, and un-fucking-believable views) and I wanted to ski Canmore in the morning. I should have set an alarm but didn't and slept way in so I didn't get skiing until close to 10, and only skied 40 minutes. Just to whet my appetite. And Canmore is amazing. The skiing was perfect spring conditions, well-groomed but frozen, super fast. Uphills are legit, downhills are flying and the views are stunning.

I might go back tomorrow. Only an hour from Calgary proper. Calgary has been added to the list of places I'd live.

Flew in to YYC, then up to the mountains for the weekend. Mel and I were going xc skiing, Phil wasn't. We got to the first option and it was kind of warm and slushy seeming (but goddamn, 60k of long trails in the mountains; mid-season would be amazing), so we drove up the road to the place that had been groomed overnight. Skiing was pretty good. It was snowing hard when we got there but let up, but the new snow kept things slow. Which was nice, since some of the curvy downhills kept me on my toes even given the snow.

After a time around the 10k, grabbed a snack, and did another time around the 10k. Started off sunny with views, then started snowing, then finished sunny with views.

Cooling down back and forth in the stadium, waiting for our ride down a super washboarded dirt road, what fun!

NP fun. Mostly big hills, some small ones, went 45 minutes, then got cold on the ride home. Still kind of winter. Ankle felt okay, but was pretty lax on the downhills.

Out for an afternoon run, later than expected because I was bitching at the state about painting a bike lane. (They are.) I also had to return something to the bike shop because I only needed one set of new brakes, not two. (Also, my bike stops now.) So random run through Allston.

Enough of the stadium melted out for stadium! Only nine sections, only about 28 steps per section, so six times through.

Quick late run around the river. WP out of cheap chicken, so rain check!

This was a proper adventuring weeklend! Ski marathon, last-minute drive to Quebec, World Cup, 24 and 23 at Mont Ste Anne, lots of driving, lots of fun. Adventure! (Sorry you couldn't come with, Alex; this was Raid-level adventuring.)

Woke up and after some Jess mystery time (she has an excuse: everything takes longer with a broken thumb and a cast on) we went to MSA.

24 was open. 23 wasn't shown as being open but they got another 40cm of snow a few days ago. I really wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

We skied up St Hilaire and then out the 24. The 24 is great. The issue was that it hadn’t been groomed so there were some sun crust mashed potatoes on uphills and icy downhills (the section beyond the powerlines was fresh grooming and wonderful, not sure why they were out grooming during the day and not overnight). But I got to ski the 24 (also, quite the climb up to the top of it, and some stellar views).

Then we go to the 23, which was open. It was going to be tight timing to make the World Cup, but the 23 was open! Jess was lagging a bit because of her arm/hand, so I did the 23 on my own. Also great! Beautiful day, warming up some in the sun. Hills were really sketchy in a couple of places though but I powered through. And by sketchy I mean that I went skittering down an ice luge out of control at one point and still don't know how I stayed up.

Then the connector to 11 wasn’t groomed and I didn't see where it was and skied an extra 3k to get back to the parking lot (and the 23 would come in basically right at the top of the steep hill, it's maybe 7 minutes back and it took me 17 by the Auberge and I'm not bitter at all). Some Ari mystery time. (Still not sure why MSA doesn't groom connectors always and insists on making everything a "loop" tour, this is not how networks work!)

So we went to the World Cup. This was an excellent weekend. Great dinner last night, not too touristy, very French, then a cheap motel near MSA, ski, then a run to see the women’s race. We missed the first lap through but got to cheer All the US women sans Kikkan and Liz (sick) but cheering for Julia Kern (CSU!) and everyone else was great. We were at the top of a biggish hill and some of the women and later men were struggling, but they’re fast and strong. The crowd filled in for the men’s race (Alex Harvey!) and we watched with a US and Australian woman from the race (we got the US woman to take a picture with our flag). Then after the last time through we ran to try to watch the finish; Harvey lost in the sprint, which was too bad because I wanted to see 10,000 Canadians all singing the national anthem.

Then after wandering a while we got to ski the World Cup circuit! No huge climbs, but sneaky-steep climbs. Steep downhill through narrow trees was interesting, and skiing around the Citadel walls was pretty cool. Amazing views of the Saint Lawrence, too. Lots of fun. Let’s bring it to Boston Common. Then a long drive back to Maine.

Train up to Brunswick, up to Sugarloaf with Jess in the morning for the marathon. Went out to warm up and whoops, still wax on my skis from the non-Birkie. But soft, cold skis with a cold wax and it was maybe 10˚ out, so I spent my warm up scraping my skis. Oh well.

Small crowd at Sugarloaf this year, since it sounds like most of the college kids are up in Quebec watching the World Cup (more on that later). Jess, who broke her thumb, was doing the 25k with a pole taped to her hand. Anyway, headed out in the third pack and worked up in to the second pretty quickly as the third was slagging. No HRM (I really should get that battery replaced) and the chase pack pulled back together.

Coming in to the hairpin between the feeds where the race heads back out towards the 10 it wasn't marked, so someone ahead of me was coming back having been yelled back to the course. Helps to have skied this three times, four laps each, I know the course. In to the second lap I wound up on the front of a pack I led for a while which I think included John S from the announcements. That pack stayed together for 1.5 laps although I realized I had not eaten enough the last couple of days (yay, preparation!) and might be headed for a bonk, and couldn't shake the pack. On the hills on the 10, John passed me, and as I attempted to switch sides of V1 I put a pole in front of a ski and a knee in the ground. Someone I thought was Andy (but wasn't) passed too as did the two Colby skiers. We mostly stayed together through the rest of the lap with John a bit out ahead.

At the lap I grabbed a drink (but could have used more; I love this race and it's well run but the kids get a little ADD and abandon their posts as the race goes on, it seems) I stayed just behind John and the other guy (the Colby boys were cooked) and I was in visual range at the top of the hill feed (close to 100m climb from the low point). As I got there I yelled that I wanted a full feed (the optimist would have said the feeds were half-full) and they filled it but it was a little late arriving and I dropped it—all over myself. Oh, well, that was my last chance to get enough energy to catch John which probably wouldn't have happened anyway.

So I avoided a full-scale bonk by taking it pretty easy the rest of the way in.

After the race John said he could barely hang on the first three laps, that I was pushing hard. I didn't feel like I had been, but he manages long races well and goes out slow and negative splits. I should learn that. But felt pretty good. Too bad I didn't get to ski the Birkie.

Cooled down a bit with Hannah and then on my own, just tooling around. Getting a little sticky in full sun but mostly still powder. Definitely warmer though (that saved me during the race). Ate food, won age class award (chocolate! Jess won her race). Then we made a decision: since we were only 50 miles from Canada, let's drive to Canada for the World Cup! Found a $50 motel near MSA, plan to drive to Quebec City, get dinner, stay up near MSA, ski the 24 in the morning, head in to the city for the 11:20 start for the women's race. Grad school. I can even do some work in the car.

Piss poor training week this week. Ankle still has feels, so I haven't wanted to run on snow and ice, and mostly too busy with school work (and poor planning of personal things) to get to the Ski Track.

So I am throwing caution to the wind this weekend and heading up to the Sugarloaf Marathon! And maybe on to Quebec. We'll see.

Quick run at lunchtime. Ankle feeling okay. Not perfect, but okay. Executed a crash barrier jump on the Harvard Bridge to get around a big group of people fine. So that's good. A few icy sections still but mostly okay.

Skiing around some before the race. Weston conditions, some grooming issues, but nice to have snow mid-March. December would have been nice, too.

Race, 2 flat laps classic (DP, of course) 3 skate laps. Went out behind John (I think) and stuck with him for the first lap but my skis were pretty laggy (and my DP, too) and he and a couple others pulled away in the second lap so I was on my own in the wind. One of the Smiths (I think) was gaining on me but I went in to the changeover in 4th. Switched my skis and took my poles off and on as Judge John had told us at the start while Andy flew by (no idea how, not sure he switched his skis) so I went out to catch him. I did and led the second lap through the driving range before he pulled ahead for the third. Since the finish was in to the wind and up a hill, I figured I was fine with him taking that pull. Which he did, and on the flats by the river I slingshotted around him, and a couple people we were lapping, and put 20m on him in to the hill and the finish.

Feels good to go hard!

A couple more laps; cold and having to run home to do a problem set.

Tuesday Night Worlds --> Wednesday Night Worlds.

Woo!

Winter is not over yet! Jackson was mostly freshly groomed. Out Ellis, up Keeney, down Hall, then all the way out Ellis until it was blocked by lots of blowdowns (on yesterday's grooming, so, yeah, it was windy). Couldn't see 50m of snow, so I turned back. Then back down and up Hall and down Keeney.

What a nice downhill. Edge of control, but nice banked turns. Fast, though. Caught an edge but made a save further down. Good fun!

Spin around the race course.

Friend's mom died and had a funeral in the morning, which precluded a long (frigid) run and the ankle did too.

Went up with the parents to Jackson, though, because skiing is fun and getting a ride up means doing some work in the car (really: looking at weather models). It was cold and windy, but I wanted to ski, so they drove up to Whitney's and I skied up.

NCAA 15/20 had taken place earlier so the course was groomed wide for skating. Hard, fast, fun. Quite cold. Quite windy. Attempting to put my pole on in the wind it got blown up in to my lip, so, hooray, split lip. Whatever, it all basically froze. Up the Wave, down the Wave, up the Betty Whitney (not so much groomed) for a beer.

Also, the wool puffy ibex hoody jacket I bought for 50% off is really effing warm.

C • wool puffy hoody 3

Ankle precluded hills in the morning. Then it was pretty snow all day that added up to a couple of inches. Once traffic was over I decided to bop out to Weston (as usual: after 7 = special evening rate). Skied 45 minutes (one Wait Wait episode) of horseshoes and ankle felt okay, which is good. Headlamp for the last bit. Then some blizzarding on the way home.

Morning trip down to the Blue Hills for a trail run. Off the train at 7:04 and on trails 10 minutes later. Ran skyline for a while and coming down a little hill I rolled my right ankle. Well then. Was able to jog flats and ups and walk down, although some of the Blue Hills downhills were quite tricky. Thought about bailing after 5 on the 240 but no bus for 12 minutes so instead I plotted a flat route to Mattapan which worked well. Ankle still has the feels, but I can walk and run on it, so maybe not too bad?

Fire drill day! Run around the stadium, and this time they included keep going back (in the past they've implied we could finish at the end but not anymore). Push ups and squats. Started behind Harry, passed him but he stayed pretty close so I kept gaining maybe a stair per section on him. After the turn I traded sections with Sebastian the rest of the way around.

41 minutes for 50 including a lot of push ups and squats, then three more for good measure. Maybe next week if it doesn't snow will be VK day.

Tom ran a 18 minute stadium and then finished off a double in another 30 minutes or so which is most impressive.

Out to ski track. Snow much better than last week, it turns out. Horseshoe very intact. Teams selected from Wave 1, fastest with slowest, second-fastest with second-slowest, etc, so I was paired with Clinton who's somewhere in Wave 1.

Sprints! Went out with John, Frank, etc. We went way too hard for no really good reason except to put time on the field, I guess. Then a wait, and then my guy came through first! So I led out. No one caught me because apparently John and Frank's partners were slower.

The next exchange Jess had caught Clinton, so I went out slightly behind a North Shore Nordic guy, caught him, put a few seconds on him, but realized I needed to put a lot on him because Jess was going to close any gap.

Final lap went as hard as I could but couldn't put any more time on him. Skied out to watch Clinton come in and watched as Jess calmly reeled him in. Fun format, and fun to get to race!

WHEEEEEEEE SKI!

After a weekend where the skiing was cold and windy (Rangeley got pushed back a day) and far away, I got some work done, and convinced my retired dad to shuttle up to Waterville for the morning. Chauffeur!

Waterville was pretty much perfect. A couple of edges burning out and low down someone drove the groomer too fast and washboarded things, but Snows was amazing. (I assume Tripoli was too.) Would have been a great day for a 100k day except I had to get back for a 3 o'clock class. Grad school is rough.

Up Livermore, down Lower Snows, then up Beanbender (groomed! skiable!), down Upper Snows, then turn around to go back up and down Beanbender (good day to be able to parallel turn). Cascade looked maybe skiable but closed. I didn't duck a rope. But if I had I would have found a couple of open waterbars and a downed tree. So closed for a reason.

Then another trip up Snows and down Beanbender for my two hours, and back home for lunch, class and studying!

Wanted to go try on a jacket at Ibex. They didn't have my size but it was good to try on. Then ran home via the garden. Still chilly, but nice for running.

Wanted to run in the Blue Hills. Didn't want to drive in traffic. Didn't want to drive to NH 2:45 to ski in 0˚ with -20 wind chills because I've done that and it's not really that fun.

I want to go skiing yet this year, but have work and boundaries.

So I went to the Blue Hills on one leg of the Red Line, then ran to the other. First train was a Braintree train so I ran from Quincy Adams 1.5 miles to the Hills and took out an O map and tried to make contact. Wasn't so easy since the control descriptions were over the location but eventually I followed the sun and emerged on to the map et voila, made contact.

A bit of handrailing off a wall but mostly running the trails. Nice day in the woods, albeit cold. Barely anyone out there. Crossed 28 and on to the white trail, then part of the yellow and back along a trail down Unquity. Looking at a map, I could have done a little more on trails, but you can get to within a mile of Mattapan on trails, which is cool.

As I'm coming in to Mattapan I see a BPD car pull over a sedan with tinted windows and the officer got out, which was followed by two other unmarked cars with plainclothes officers and two other police cars screaming towards it. I didn't stick around to see what had happened (I wanted to get on the next car to Ashmont). Excitement in the big city! (Oh, I got to ride the MHSL, too.)

Legs hurt a lot from an accidental 2 minute PR on Wednesday.

Fuck I would have crushed the Birkie.

Started with a big hill since I was running late (had to mete out some sourdough starter for Tom). Then did one again, stairs, back side, did that again, then front and side. Legs sore, but felt decently fast.

Well …

Maybe I should have bought tickets to the Great Race. Had I known the Birkie would be canceled and all. Looks like it will be skied in a proper snowstorm. $500 seems a bit much for it, though.

Rangeley sounds cold.

Just your typical Wednesday with 700m of VERT.

IT band felt a bit janky in bed but fine on the stairs. Felt pretty good even though it was warm (50).

Looking back, I think this is close to if not more than a 2-minute PR. And I didn't feel like I was going that hard. Fuck, I would have crushed the Birkie. Time to stay fit and have no injuries.

(Oh, hey, look, I can download data and sort it by elevation gain. 2:05 PR. Wow. I would have crushed the Birkie.)