Training Log Archive: Ari-o

One of those days where almost everything that went wrong went wrong. It started off with planning. I went up last night to stay with Lindsay and today we were planning to go to the Darn Tough sale (which we did, and it was awesome). She was planning a morning hike and I did not inquire how much of a hike it was but it sounded pretty tame.

Halfway up I realized I had not brought any pants other than jeans.

No worries. Dinner, sleep, driving up to Hunger Mountain in the morning. All the hills were white. Still not realizing what was going on. Grabbed my less tread-y shoes and got in her car for the last segment (yay, carpooling). Met Anna (who I worked with in 2011 at Mizpah) and her sister (good skier, might be interested in ski-o) and we started up. About 200m in I thought I should go back and get gloves, but didn't. I had an orange vest on (hunting season) but had left my puffy jacket in the car (it's orange, too). There was snow on the ground. I was expecting a couple mile hike with some moderate elevation.

It got snowier. And icier. None of us had microspikes which would have been key. Near the top, icy ledges we struggled in a few inches of snow; I borrowed Elissa's extra socks to keep my hands from freezing and we pushed on to the summit. The view was great. It was wintry. We'd climbed to 3500 feet, 2200 feet above the trailhead. I was not expecting that kind of elevation, and the associated weather.

Then we started down. I needed to keep moving to stay warm and Elissa and I got ahead of Anna and Lindsay chattering about skiing and rollerskiing (and me selling her on O). About two thirds of the way down we decided to stop and wait for them; it was warmer there. I hadn't had any water all day, and was maybe still somewhat dehydrated from rollerskiing (but thought I'd rehydrated last night). I was also having the phenomenon where I regain warmth in my extremities and sometimes I get a bit nauseous when that happens.

Then I felt very light-headed. Then I went to try to prop myself against a tree and fainted. Then I was able to stumble/crawl to a rock and try to catch my breath. I had no idea what was going on. I barely had my faculties, didn't want food or water, and just wanted to get up and go down, no matter the consequences. Elissa offered me an apple and I wanted no part of it but said I had gels in my drink belt and had her take out one of those. We stumbled down the mercifully gradual and by this point not icy trail, and about a minute later I broke open the gel and started sucking it down.

Two minutes later, I was ready to run. It was really super quick. It must have been some weird bonk—maybe that I didn't notice because with the ill-preparedness we were going much slower than I usually would—that snuck up on me to that degree. Thank goodness it happened at the bottom, and thank goodness it passed. But it's a great lesson: be prepared, ask questions, turn back if you forget something, and just don't be stupid. It all could have added up to disaster today. It didn't. But it was sobering.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled training.

C • Ski-o! 2

Interesting rollerski today. Started out with Gordon (who I met at NP yesterday) Frank and a couple of juniors. We dropped Frank and John and then waited for them at Harvard. There Frank and Gordon held back one of the juniors to stay in L1, so I tailed Gordon and the other junior straight out 110, avoiding the jittery pavement by Fruitlands.

I had no idea where we were going, but figured I could follow them and/or get caught by the guys behind. Then I saw a left turn on a downhill the name of which looked vaguely familiar (Bare Hill something or other) but didn't think much of it until I turned my head back 300m later to see Frank et al disappearing around the corner. On the steeper part of the hill with no way to stop, I ran out to the bottom of the hill, turned around, and climbed back to the turn.

I thought I might be able to catch them, but was by this point a k behind, or close to it. I followed my nose down Bare Hill (no time to check the phone for a map) and got to a place where the police had closed the road due the winds knocking a tree on to power lines (oh, did I mention?, it was wicked windy). So I got turned on to another road which was completely unscouted, but I figured the other skiers must have gone this way so as long as I didn't see carnage ahead, I'd be fine.

I followed my nose until I got to a school and a main road (111) and took out my phone. I was back in Harvard. The detour had shunted me quite a bit north. Well, now time to follow Bolton Road (nice hill, new pavement) to head down East Bare Hill to Sugar and then back. Wound up skiing a marathon, so not bad!

Today was racing the hills. I didn't feel great at the start but decided to drop the first hill and went out for a CR. And got it! I actually was faster on the gradual down at the top because it seemed a bit slick with the rain and leaves down the bottom, and my legs were still a bit tired from Thursday.

1:38 downhill.

Kyle almost caught me. So if his Strava hadn't mucked things up, I'd be second. Still, it was fast.

Then I struggled up that hill, and kept going decently fast until we got to the third one which was decently fast.

Didn't get running until late, but went to Whole Paycheck, so dinner was soft corn tortillas with rice (cooked during the run with cumin and garlic), cheese, chicken, kale, tomato, avocado, Cabot greek yogurt (10% milkfat) and lime.

It was delicious.

Today was backpack day at the stadium, but I told them a while back to give me some lead time so I could get a packboard, and they didn't, so I didn't backpack. It's not as much fun if you can't pack a century. Plus I ran a backpack up the 19MBT last weekend.

Did 37 sections with a couple quick stops for the knee, then did 10 more. Felt sluggish and dehydrated but didn't need to drink water in the rainstorm. Then I got quite chilled on the ride home. Core was fine (rain jacket, fleece, wool) but need rain pants maybe and more than rollerski gloves. Lobsters, ftw. Also 45 and raining.